The Eternal Dying Flame
by Erendhyl
Summary: Team Seven: broken, lost, divided. But the pieces are still there. Maybe, this time, they can get it right. SasuSaku NaruHina NejiTen InoShikaTema
1. Eternal Repetition

Eternal Repetition

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter One: Eternal Repetition

**Disclaimer: I am a **_**student**_**. I live in **_**America**_**. I can't draw fight scenes to save my life. What on earth makes you think that I could own **_**Naruto**_**?!**** But, I do own the poem that appears at the end of this chapter. At least I have something.**

**Full summary: Team Seven: the eternal dying flame of Konohagakure. The tale began with the Sannin, the very first team in a long and bitter tradition. They'd been the hope of the village, until Orochimaru left. It happened again with the Team Seven to which Hatake Kakashi was assigned, under the tutelage of Namikaze Minato. This time no one left the village, but Uchiha Obito was killed at the age of thirteen, bringing an end to the days of the team. Now, the mantle has been passed on. A new Team Seven has come to Konoha. Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke, the second generation of Sannin. They are the final hope in a legacy that has gone on for far too long, a legacy of death, betrayal, and sorrow. Their predecessors have always learned from the mistakes of the past, determined not to make the same errors. But, no matter how much they learned… it was never enough for them to be able to save themselves. Maybe this time it will be.**** SasuSaku, NaruHina, NejiTen, InoShikaTema.**

**A/N: For the purposes of the story, please pretend that the Sannin's team number was seven. I don't know what it actually was, but for the sake of the story I'm saying that it was seven. It would be pleasantly ironic if it actually was.**

* * *

It started long ago. They were three of the most powerful shinobi in history, tutored by the Sandaime Hokage and christened with the title of 'Sannin' by Hanzo, the formidable leader of Amegakure. It had seemed as though they were unbeatable, gods among shinobi, immune to the struggles of mere mortals. Every sensei's dream was to produce disciples as fine as these. Konoha had had high hopes for them. Then, something happened to change all of that. Something managed to shatter seemingly unbreakable bonds, bonds that had been forged in childhood and strengthened with the passage of years.

Orochimaru left the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

It had been a dark and stormy and horribly cliché night when Sarutobi headed a squad of ANBU into the depths of the village, determined to find whoever it was who had been causing the disappearances of villagers and bring them to justice, or to die trying. They had burst through the door of a seemingly abandoned building where, according to the rumors, the abductor had his lair. They had been completely unprepared for who they would find. Everyone had anticipated that it would be some enemy of Konoha using genjutsu to lull unsuspecting villagers into a false sense of security and convince them to follow him to their deaths. They had all been prepared for this scenario. Every single member of the squad had been hand picked due to their exceptional resistance to genjutsu. What no one had prepared for was for the abductor to be one of their own. What everyone had been even less prepared for was for it to be Orochimaru, the potential candidate for the title of Fourth Hokage.

The man stood at the opposite end of a long room, his back to them. Even now, it wasn't hard to identify him; only one man in the village had that long black hair and malevolent chakra.

"I've finally been caught," he leered in his snake-like voice, seemingly unconcerned by the matter. He turned, exposing his face to them and clearing up his identity beyond all shadow of a doubt. "How disappointing."

"Orochimaru. What is the meaning of this?" his teacher, Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure, asked, apparently calm despite the gravity of the situation.

"I set a lot of booby traps, but it seems they were bypassed…" Orochimaru informed them, appearing to take pleasure in denying them the answers they sought. "I was surprised, but I see why now. It was you."

"People have started turning up missing lately in the village; Genins, Chuunins, even ANBU members. Also, we received information that you were acting weird recently," one of the ANBU stated.

"Orochimaru-sama, why is a great ninja like you doing this?" the other ANBU demanded to know.

"Shall I kill you too?" the snake-man asked, once again ignoring all questions directed at him. The ANBU gasped in shock at the threat, and Sarutobi spoke.

"Orochimaru, so you were behind all of that," he stated, no longer questioning now that his student had all but confessed to the murders. "Spill it! What are you doing here?"

"Now that you've caught me red-handed, I guess lying won't help," Orochimaru said. "I was developing… a new technique."

"Orochimaru, is that why you killed fellow village ninja?" the first ANBU asked.

"A forbidden technique, eh?" the Sandaime Hokage said, his eye closed in thought. He opened it to stare at his pupil as he continued. "What are you trying to accomplish?"

"Everything," was the reply.

"Everything?" The light above them flickered ominously as teacher glared at student, all traces of their usual bond absent.

"I want to master all techniques, and understand the truth of this world. The one who mixed blue and yellow for the first time called the new color green. I want to do something similar to that. If blue represents chakra, yellow represents seals. And green represents the technique. As there are many different colors, there are tens of thousands of techniques in this world. But to master all existing techniques and understand the truth, that requires a lot of time. The person who spends that amount of time, and understands everything, is worthy of being called the ultimate being. To me, the body's lifespan is too short. It's too transient. Even if I were a Hokage, everything would end after I died."

"Orochimaru, is the technique that you were researching here…" his teacher cut in.

"Yes, you probably have the right idea." Orochimaru leered evilly, increasing the already tense atmosphere tenfold. "A technique dealing with eternal youth and immortality."

Water dripped somewhere nearby, the only sound in the room. The three Konoha ninja stared numbly at their former comrade, awed that someone who appeared so good could turn out to be so bad. The ANBU tensed, prepared to leap forward and attack at a moment's notice as Orochimaru stepped forward.

_Eyes…_ Sarutobi thought, _Eyes that had malice and ambition; I knew that he had those within him. I knew, and I pretended not to notice. It was still an era of war, and he was strong. A genius filled with potential. A once-in-a-decade genius. That's why I wanted to believe that you would inherit my power and will. But my optimism created that, and this situation._ He formed a hand seal, preparing to attack the man before him despite their bond.

"Are you going to kill… me?" his pupil asked, obviously doubting in his teacher's ability to follow through with the threat. Sarutobi replied by biting his thumb deep enough to draw blood and continuing with the sequence of hand signs required for the Kuchiyose no Jutsu. The monkey king, Enma, appeared in the room beside the Third. The ANBU took a step forward, nerves on edge as they prepared for the imminent clash.

"But can you do that…?" Orochimaru asked again. "Sarutobi-sensei?!" He preformed his own sequence of hand signs, creating a wind that shattered the glass in the light above them. When it passed, the two ANBU lay dead and Orochimaru was on the other side of the room, now closer to the doorway than his teacher was. Sarutobi had not even batted an eye.

"Kill him, Sarutobi!" Enma cried. "Now is your only chance!" The Third Hokage stood completely still, not making any move to stop his former pupil's escape. Orochimaru turned to look at his old teacher one last time. To his teacher, the man looking back at him was not the deranged criminal they had met tonight. He could only remember the strong young shinobi who had so eagerly taken to his training. Orochimaru turned away, and was gone.

"I couldn't kill him," Sarutobi stated. It was the first failure, the first of a great many failures made by the teams over the years. This first failure was the bond between teacher and student, and the teacher's inability to completely sever that bond. It was this failure that allowed Orochimaru to live to return to the village many years later, during his Operation: Destroy Konoha, and eventually kill his old sensei.

As Orochimaru fled the village, he was met by Jiraiya. The white haired pervert attempted to stop his friend from leaving, attempting to persuade him to stay, just as Sakura would with Sasuke many years later.

"Why?" he cried at the retreating snake Sannin. "Why are you…? We were called the Sannin. Haven't we been comrades since we were young?" His former comrade chuckled, apparently amused by his friend's pain.

"You've always been a simple-minded man, Jiraiya. You never think enough before you act. That's why you never noticed what I was doing…"

"Won't you think this over more, Orochimaru?"

"Ridiculous! There is a limit to stupidity!" he cried, rushing at Jiraiya with the obvious intent of attacking and even killing, if it came to that.

He had won. Even before he defeated Jiraiya, he had won. He had won from the minute that he decided of his own free will to leave behind the village in pursuit of his own ideals. Because as soon as he had made that decision, as soon as he had decided that he didn't want to be rescued, he had already been beyond hope. The time of the Sannin was over. They Legendary Three were no more. And the legacy of the Team Seven of Konohagakure had begun.

* * *

The next time it had been Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Obito, and Rin who made up the team. The emotionless genius, the class clown, and the medic-nin/ kunoichi, respectively. Their sensei had been Namikaze Minato **(the Fourth Hokage, for anyone who hasn't read the semi-recent manga, or just forgot that)**, a former pupil of Jiraiya's, the man who was thought to be the greatest shinobi produced by any village in generations. They were not granted such a grand title as 'Sannin,' but they were a powerful force nonetheless. Kakashi became a Jounin at the age of thirteen, Obito was of the legendary Uchiha clan, and Rin was a medic talented enough to perform field surgery without killing her patients. **(A/N: In Kakashi Gaiden, she managed to transplant Obito's Sharingan into Kakashi's damaged eye socket without killing either of them.)** They had been the second hope, and surely they could not go as wrong as their predecessors? How wrong that hope was.

The disaster had struck when they were all thirteen, on a mission to blow up a bridge in the Earth Country. Kakashi had been assigned to head this mission in Minato's stead, as a reward for his recent promotion to Jounin rank. The mission had gone well enough in the beginning, true, but they had not gotten too close to their goal before disaster struck. Rin was kidnapped by Iwagakure **(Hidden Stone)** ninja and tortured for information through the usage of genjutsu. Obito had insisted upon rescuing her from the start, but Kakashi was adamant in his refusal, saying that those who don't follow the rules are trash. Obito countered by saying that those who would abandon their comrades are worse than trash, and disobeyed Kakashi's direct orders by leaving anyway. He mounted an unsuccessful rescue attempt, but was ambushed and on the verge of being killed when Kakashi arrived to save him. The silver haired Jounin managed to save Obito from certain death, and the two joined forces for the purpose of rescuing Rin.

It looked like the team would make it through. It seemed as though this time, after only one repetition, the cycle could be broken, and Team Seven could have the happy ending that they so desired. But that was not to be the case.

Soon after his arrival, Kakashi lost his right eye in an attempt to protect Obito from an Iwagakure ninja's attack. The Uchiha started crying over his teammate's sacrifice, for which Kakashi reprimanded him. Taking the words to heart, Obito attacked the enemy ninja, awakening his Sharingan in the process. The two continued on, arriving at the cave in which Rin was held captive with the intent of refusing to leave without her in tow. At first it appeared that they would be able to beat their opponents by combining Obito's newly awakened kekkei genkai with Kakashi's usual brilliance on missions. However, the other shinobi specialized in Douton ninjutsu, giving him a definite advantage in their current setting. Using the _Douton! Iwa Yado Kuzushi! _Technique **(Earth Release! Rock Lodgment Destruction!)**, he managed to make the cave cave in on them, no pun intended. A rock hit Kakashi on his blind side as they retreated, causing the young shinobi to fall. Obito barely managed to push him out of the way as a massive bolder fell just above him. When the dust cleared, Kakashi was safe. Obito had pushed him clear of the boulder. The only price was that the immense stone had fallen upon him instead. Rin could do nothing for him; this was far beyond the abilities of a thirteen-year-old Chuunin level medic-nin. Obito… would die. Before his teammates were forced to leave the wreckage, he gave his Sharingan to Kakashi as a gift to replace the eye that had been lost saving him. Rin preformed the surgery, and Kakashi emerged from the destroyed cave as the sole non-Uchiha bearer of the Sharingan eye. The Iwagakure ninja had foolishly decided to remain in the area, waiting for them just outside of the wreckage. His eye as red as the blood that had just been spilled, Kakashi charged forwards, vengeance shining in his eyes. Using his now-perfected Chidori, he quickly ended the man's life. With a final farewell, Kakashi and Rin left Obito behind, continuing on toward the bridge that had been their original mission.

Thus, for the second time, Team Seven met a tragic end. What should have been lifelong bonds were cruelly shattered in youth as one member was taken from them. Soon after, Rin died as well, leaving Kakashi alone. The second end had come far too soon.

* * *

It was thirteen more years until the next Team Seven passed the Academy's graduation exams and became Genin of Konohagakure no Sato. This time, they were headed by Hatake Kakashi, the sole surviving member of the previous Team Seven and currently the only one who had been part of such a team left in the village. The new batch appeared promising: Uzumaki Naruto, who, though he did not yet know it, was in fact the Kyuubi no Jinchuuriki **(Human Sacrifice of the Nine Tails)**; Haruno Sakura, the most intelligent kunoichi in their year, who had achieved a score of 100 on every written test they had taken at the Academy; and Uchiha Sasuke, the survivor of the Uchiha clan and self-proclaimed avenger, who was recognized as a ninja genius even then. Maybe this time, they would be strong enough to escape the tragedies that had befallen their predecessors. Maybe this time, Team Seven could have a happy ending.

A year passed. The young team was given their first C-ranked mission (which turned out to be A-ranked): the Land of Waves assignment. Sakura displayed her exceptional chakra control, mastering the tree climbing exercise on her first try. Sasuke awakened his Sharingan during his battle with Haku, and displayed his willingness to sacrifice his life to protect his comrades. Naruto partially released the seal for the first time, drawing upon the chakra of the Kyuubi in his rage at Sasuke's apparent death, succeeding in defeating Haku with its help. However, he displayed his humanity by refusing to kill the other boy, recognizing him as the kid he had met earlier that day. Haku died anyway when he saved Zabuza from Kakashi's Raikiri **(Lightening Blade)**, something that had been regretted ever since. Upon seeing that Naruto was still alive, Sakura rejoiced and asked where Sasuke was. Naruto couldn't bear the thought of being the one who had to tell her what had happened to the Uchiha, and instead turned away from her expectant face, tears in his eyes. She saw this, and was able to tell what it meant. Her precious Sasuke-kun had died. With Tazuna accompanying her, she ran to his body, stopping dead at the sight of it. Here, she broke, disobeying the twenty-fifth principal of shinobi conduct and crying over his loss. The sound of it was heart-wrenching, renewing Naruto's sense of grief and guilt over his teammate's loss.

Beneath Sakura's sobbing form, a heart began to beat again, and the onyx eyes of Uchiha Sasuke opened. Haku in turn had displayed his humanity in his turn by sparing Sasuke, merely placing him in a death-like state from which he awakened after a short while. The team had not been broken. There was still hope for this third try.

The rookie squad was then enrolled in the Chuunin exams, where they displayed their strength, becoming one of only seven squads to pass the first two parts of the exam. It was here that they were exposed to the darkness for the first time. During their time in the Forest of Death, the three encountered Orochimaru, who branded Sasuke with the Curse Seal of Heaven. The curse nearly killed the boy, leaving him unconscious and in intense pain. Naruto had been knocked out as well by the snake, leaving Sakura to defend herself from the three Otonin assigned to kill Sasuke. After watching as Lee sacrificed himself in an attempt to protect her, she finally moved to fight for herself. In the battle, she was forced to cut away the hair that she had grown long in a vain attempt to impress Sasuke, finally casting aside her pathetic fangirl side and becoming a kunoichi. It had been during the Chuunin Exams that they all began to change from wild little kids into true ninja.

Their next milestone had been the fight with Gaara, during the Suna and Oto invasion of Konoha. That battle had offered definite proof of how much they all meant to each other. They had been willing to die for one another. It was this desperation that drove Naruto on, forcing him to unlock his greatest power yet. Pushed to the limits by his need to save Sakura from the punishing clutches of Gaara's sand, he summoned the power of the Kyuubi, even more than he had during his Chuunin Exam fight with Hyuuga Neji. Sasuke was in equal parts awed and envious of this power, but suppressed the envy for the moment; Naruto needed to be this powerful if they were to have a hope of survival. When Naruto finally defeated Gaara, and the sand crumbled away, Sasuke caught Sakura as she fell. He had been powerless to protect them. All he could do now was to catch her as she fell, after Naruto had accomplished the real task of freeing her. But he suppressed this feeling of discontent. Sakura was alive, and Naruto was alive, and he was alive, and that was all that mattered. For now, Naruto had saved them, and that was all that mattered.

Barely a month passed before Sasuke was given a chance to redeem himself. Uchiha Itachi had returned to the village, and his goal was to capture Naruto. This was the chance that Sasuke had so desired. Not only could he prove his superiority to the blond, but it was _Uchiha Itachi_. His revenge could finally be at hand. That thought had been firmly in his mind as he arrived, declaring his challenge to the elder Uchiha. It had managed to remain for only the brief few moments at the beginning of their fight, before it was replaced by another, darker thought. This other thought was a painful realization. During his fight with his sibling, his chance to finally accomplish his revenge after five long years, Sasuke was forced to face the bitter truth: during those five years, nothing had changed. Once again, all he could do was take the beatings Itachi delivered to him, screaming in both physical and mental agony. Itachi's Tsukuyomi had not been necessary to win the fight. From the moment that he realized his apparent lack of growth, Sasuke had already been defeated.

When Tsunade returned to the village and revived Sasuke, it had seemed as though things could go back to normal now. Sasuke would recover quickly, and everything would be fine. But that was not to be the case. Sasuke's mind was haunted by the memory of his recent failure. The knowledge that he had been so powerless tormented him, plunging his soul into the icy clutches of despair. Naruto had improved at an alarming rate, surpassing the Uchiha himself and managing to defeat a Jinchuuriki. Sasuke, by comparison, had done nothing. That thought was foremost on his mind when he asked Naruto to fight him on the roof of the hospital. The two of them had appeared to be evenly matched. Then, Naruto's desire to prove to Sasuke that he had grown stronger got the better of him, and he preformed the Rasengan. The Uchiha countered it with his own Chidori. Seeing the imminent clash, Sakura, who had been watching from the sidelines, rushed in, determined to keep the boys from killing each other. She would have been hit with both attacks, killing her near instantaneously, had Kakashi not chosen to arrive at that exact moment. He had shoved the quarreling teenagers into two water towers, ending both of their attacks. No one had wanted to believe it, but the crack had formed then. From that moment on, the third Team Seven was no more.

They could not accept it. Tears cried, sacrifices made, bonds formed, all that could not be thrown away so easily. They wanted to believe that. They wanted so much to believe that they could never truly be separated, that their bonds were strong enough to overcome this. They were wrong.

That night, Uchiha Sasuke defected from Konohagakure Village in favor of joining Orochimaru in Otogakure. Sakura tried to stop him, pleading with him to stay. He responded to her declaration of undying love with a simple 'thank you' before knocking her out and leaving the village once and for all. The next day, a five man team comprising of Akimichi Chouji, Hyuuga Neji, Inuzuka Kiba, Uzumaki Naruto, and headed by Nara Shikamaru was assembled for the sole purpose of capturing the fleeing Uchiha and returning him to his native village. Naruto even made a promise to Sakura that the mission would succeed, saying that it was "the promise of a lifetime, dattebayo!" The various members of the Sound Five occupied the efforts of his teammates and a later addition of Rock Lee, forcing Naruto to continue on by himself. It was the blond Jinchuuriki alone who arrived at the Valley of the End and dueled Uchiha Sasuke there. The curse seal on the avenger's neck had been accelerated into the second state, increasing his power and forcing Naruto to transform into his One Tailed Kyuubi form. The final clash between the two occurred with them transformed so, Naruto used his Rasengan and Sasuke countered it with his Chidori. Naruto's attack missed its mark, merely scratching Sasuke's forehead protector through the Leaf symbol on it. The Uchiha knew that now his Chidori could strike the blond, killing him if he so desired. He knew this, and that was why he turned his hand aside at the last minute, striking Naruto with the back of his palm instead of the lethal lightening attack. Enough of the attack's power still managed to strike Naruto, and he was knocked unconscious soon after. Sasuke continued on, alone, arriving at Orochimaru's base later that day. The Sasuke Retrieval mission was deemed by Tsunade to be a failure shortly after.

It was over. The third attempt at a happy ending for Team Seven had failed. That was what everyone thought in the face of Sasuke's sudden betrayal. It would have been true, except for one thing, one small factor that no one had anticipated: Uzumaki Naruto. Even in the hospital, covered in bandages, fully feeling the wounds dealt to him by Sasuke, his words were not ones of despair. Instead, even in that dark hour, his words were of hope. "Sakura-chan, I will bring him back to the village. It's the promise of a lifetime! I said that and I meant it!" Sakura had smiled. Naruto had that effect on people. Even if the situation looked to be impossibly grim, he could inspire people to reach farther, and do more than they ever believed possible. He did that to Sakura now. Her response was, "No, Naruto. This time, we'll bring him back together."

* * *

The members of the third Team Seven had changed each other, forging unbreakable bonds and leaving impacts that would last a lifetime. Naruto and Sasuke had grown as close as blood brothers. Sakura's crush on Sasuke matured into true love. Naruto was saved from the darkness growing in his soul by the arrival of people who acknowledged his existence and his power. And Sasuke… Sasuke opened up. For the first time since watching his family's murder at the age of seven, he was able to trust others, and managed to gain bonds that could not be broken despite his sincerest attempts.

And, there was one thing more. What had happened between Sasuke and Naruto during the final few moments before the effects of Sasuke's attack rendered his friend unconscious passed out. Both of them had looked into each other's eyes, sorrow and regret plainly evident on their faces. In the white light left over from the power of the attacks, both of them saw a vision of a younger version of themselves, reaching out and clasping hands. Younger Naruto grinned the whole time, and, after a moment's hesitation, younger Sasuke smiled back. This was the final communication between the two shinobi for two and a half long and painful years, the final message that Sasuke gave to his friends. _I'm always there._

* * *

_Can you see me?_

_I'm standing right beside you._

_Are you sure that you can't see me?_

_I guess you can't._

_It makes sense, you know._

_You shouldn't be able to see me._

_You may look at me, but you will never see me._

_You see my smile and my laughter, and that is all you see._

_You don't see my tears, you don't see my pain._

_You look at me, but you never see me._

_You never see me._

_You will never see me._

_No matter what, you'll really never see me._

_You'll never see what's in my heart._

_You'll never see it._

_My eternal dying flame._

* * *

**A/N: This chapter was mostly just the introduction. The actual plot of the story begins in the next chapter. So if you thought that this was boring, the story hasn't begun yet, please don't judge it harshly! (Even I admit that this bit was a little dull, it **_**was**_** just a collection of summaries, and I don't want everyone to leave this early! Please, read the next chapter before deciding if you like the story or not!) Note: The poem at the end is written by me! If you think I suck at writing poetry, please be nice about it. I like that poem, and it really makes me feel bad when people tell me that something I write sucks. (Not that anyone on this site ever has. You're all really nice, I'm just commenting about negative comments in general.)**


	2. Eternal Heartache

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Two: Eternal Heartache

**Disclaimer: Yes, I, Masashi Kishimoto, decided to start publishing stuff on a fanfiction site, even though I already own the Naruto series. Does anyone here honestly need me to put this, or can we all conclude that I don't own the series? **

**A/N: This story takes place just after the Hidan and Kakuzu arc. (Don't read any further if you haven't read the manga and do not want spoilers for the events of that arc.) There's still a while left before their three years run out and Sasuke's body is taken over, so he doesn't have to leave Otogakure for another month or so. (I'm not sure if that was true in the manga, but for the sake of the story, please just pretend that there's still a month left before time runs out.) Asuma is dead (sorry, I miss him too), Kurenai is no longer the captain of Team Eight, and Naruto has developed the Rasen-shuriken. I just wanted to clear the timing of this up here, because the characters don't know that they're part of a series, so they can't just say "it's been a while since the Hidan and Kakuzu arc." On with the story!**

* * *

The eyes of her reflection stared back at her, twin pools of sparkling emerald in the clear blue water of the river. The gentle current constantly shifted her image, blurring the fine details of her face so that it was impossible to tell if those really were tears in her eyes. But, they couldn't be tears. They definitely weren't tears. What did she have to cry over? The only real suffering she'd ever gone through was when Sasuke left, and she'd long since gotten over that. Sasuke was not worth her tears. There was no way that she would cry over that traitor. He'd never loved her, he'd told her as much when he left, so it made no sense for her to still love him. Before he'd left, she could have been forgiven a schoolgirl's crush, but now it was just plain ridiculous. He was a missing-nin, a traitor to the village. She had long since accepted that. There was no way that she was still crying over him three years later. No, she was not crying. It was just the current messing with her reflection. That was all.

The kunoichi walked away from the bridge, her footsteps making a soft thumping sound on the wooden planks. She was needed for her shift at the hospital soon; there was no time to stare at messed up reflections in the currents of rivers.

And those ripples in the place where her reflection had been moments before were not from fallen tears.

* * *

The sanitized smell of the hospital was oddly soothing to Sakura. Many people associated the places with death and anguish, but to her it was almost pleasant. She couldn't say that she _enjoyed_ the knowledge that patients suffered within these walls, dying if their wounds were too serious for the medics to handle, but that wasn't her first thought when she imagined the place. To her, it was the place where she had finally managed to do something useful, instead of just relying on Naruto and Sasuke to take care of her.

She smiled at the secretary, who smiled back at her, handing her a list of assignments for the day. She scanned the list of patients, noting with some surprise the relative lack of severity in their wounds. Almost no one on her assignment list was in the hospital for anything more severe than a broken limb, and no one had any life threatening injuries. The secretary noticed her look of slight astonishment.

"Yes, our ninja have been reporting surprisingly few casualties of late. It's almost eerie. We are a shinobi village after all, one should expect _some_ shinobi to be in critical condition at all times. This lack of injuries… one could argue that it's good, but medics are used to casualties as a part of every mission. Their absence disturbs us far more than others." Sakura nodded; she had been thinking relatively the same thing. It was peculiar how few serious threats there were these days, especially with Orochimaru and the Sound Village still being a part of the picture, and then there was that civil war in Amegakure **(the Village Hidden in the Rain)**, and the Akatsuki… with all these threats, shinobi should be reporting life-threatening injuries at an exhausting rate. And yet there were almost no mishaps occurring on their missions…

"Still," she said, forcing a lighter note into the conversation. It had taken entirely too dark a turn for her tastes, "having nothing serious to attend to is good news for us." How she wished that she were the kind of person who would be able to say that and mean it. For a brief moment, Sakura wished that her life really was that simple, that this apparent lack of threats would only mean less work that she would have to do. But, alas, she was not that kind of person. She was the apprentice to the Godaime Hokage of Konohagakure; she had been trained to be a medic at the hands of the best of the best. And if there was one thing that her teacher had managed to impress upon her, it was that casualties were a part of every mission. No matter how skilled the shinobi concerned were, there would always be some slight mistake, maybe not on this very mission, but eventually. The utter lack of anything major was not something natural. To Sakura, it could not just spell a day of easy work. It spoke of greater tragedies yet to come, made all the worse because their enemies had taken this time now to prepare them. This reprieve, however nice it was, was far from a blessing.

Sakura sighed. Sometimes she wished that Tsunade hadn't taken such an interest in training her, and she could have just seen this let-up in casualties as a much-needed vacation.

* * *

"There you go," she said kindly to a young Genin-level kunoichi as she finished patching up the girl's leg. Her team had been ambushed by ninja from Iwagakure Village **(the Village Hidden in the Stone)**, and she had been hit with several kunai knives while attempting to shield her comrades from harm. The odd thing was, the Iwa-nin were apparently only Genin level or so themselves. Even though the girl had been stabbed in her leg with a knife that looked as though it had hurt terribly, it had not been very serious at all, and she had the worst injuries of her team. The enemies had fled surprisingly quickly too; they'd barely even stuck around to see if any of their kunai had hit. Yet another oddity to add to Sakura's growing uneasiness. Her young patient was only twelve or so, fresh out of the Academy and clearly in awe of Sakura's medical talents. She had told Sakura before her healing began that she wanted to train to someday become a medic-nin herself, so that she could protect her teammates and her little brother when they were hurt. A lump had formed in Sakura's throat at the younger girl's words. Minus the bit about the younger brother, it had been like listening to her younger self around the time when she had decided to begin her training with Tsunade-sama.

_When I was her age, if I had been allowed to see what I became today, what would I see? Would I see a strong kunoichi whose long hours of training paid off in the end? Or would I see an almost sixteen year old girl who can't let go of her past and forget about… Sasuke-kun? _The thought was troubling, to say the least.

"Thank you," the girl she had just healed replied shyly, jolting Sakura back to the present. The medic-nin smiled at her, trying to hide her momentary unease with the simple facial expression. As Sai had always told her, a smile was one of the most effective forms of concealment, because people tended to take it at face value.

"You're welcome," she told the girl, noting how the younger's face lit up with pleasure at her kind expression. The smaller kunoichi dashed out of the room where Sakura had been healing her, a joyful expression on her face. Sakura could not fully suppress a pang of sorrow as she saw the girl run into the arms of her two male teammates, both of whom had clearly been very worried about their companion. She tried to remember if Naruto and Sasuke had ever done that to her, or if Sasuke had always been an ice cube and she had been eternally trying to prevent Naruto from hugging her. A tear pooled in her eye at the memory. Their team had not had such emotional bonds as these three Genin, but there was no doubt that theirs had been stronger. If only Sasuke hadn't left, they could have risen to become the most powerful team in the Hidden Leaf Village.

_Sasuke-kun…_ she thought, trailing off after simply saying his name, as she always did, as though thinking about him enough would give her an answer as to why he had left. But the answer remained as mysterious to her as it always had.

"Hey, Forehead!" She looked up to see a platinum blonde girl heading towards her, a vaguely annoyed expression on her face.

"Ino Pig!" the pink haired kunoichi exclaimed in shock. While she knew that her best friend also chose to work at the hospital in her spare time, it was rare that the Yamanaka didn't have any ninja missions to take away from that time. It was a rare occurrence for their shifts at the hospital to coincide, except for in times of crisis such as an invasion, when the village was in desperate enough need of additional healers to call some of their usual shinobi off duty to deal with the unusually high number of casualties.

The blonde drew even with her, reproach evident on her face.

"Forehead," she scolded, "were you thinking about Sasuke again?" Sakura flushed, and Ino sighed with exasperation. "Sakura-chan, you know you need to move on." The Haruno girl hung her head, her cheeks red with shame. It had been so easy for Ino to accept that he wasn't coming back. She had been the one whose shoulder Sakura had gone to cry on after Naruto left on his training journey with Jiraiya and the pink haired Genin still had shown no signs of having gotten over their teammate's betrayal. Sakura knew that she wouldn't have been able to cope with her own feelings of guilt and loss if her best friend hadn't been by her side.

"I know, Ino-chan," she said, defeat appearing plainly in her voice even as she added the affectionate suffix to Ino's name in remembered gratitude. She had known, like Ino had, that he wasn't coming back. He didn't want to come back. Even though the foolishness of her denial had been obvious even to her right from the beginning, she had never been able to accept the idea that Sasuke would never come home.

Ino knew this. Day after day, she'd had to watch Sakura putting herself through hell because of what the one boy had done to her. Where Ino had once felt love for the mysterious, brooding young man (well, fangirl love), there was now only hate. If she ever caught up to Uchiha Sasuke, he'd pay for what he had done to Sakura.

But right now, Sasuke wasn't here, and Sakura was. Her thoughts of vengeance for her friend's suffering would have to be set aside for the moment. Right now, her best friend needed her.

"Hey," she said, lifting Sakura's chin and forcing the despairing kunoichi to meet her sympathetic blue eyes, "don't look so glum. I know you can never _really_ move on. You really loved him, Sakura; he's just too much of a bastard to appreciate it. I'm not saying that you should give up hope. Just, don't let it take over your life. Smile a little," she instructed her friend, grinning a little to emphasize her point. A hesitant smile appeared on Sakura's face in response. "See, there you go," Ino laughed, inwardly wishing that Sasuke was here right now so she could rip him to little tiny shreds. Before he left, Sakura had been the one who cheered up everyone else and made them smile when they were hurt.

"Come on," she ordered Sakura, exiting the treatment room with her best friend in tow. "We're going to Ichiraku."

"But Ino, you hate ramen! You always say how fattening it is!" Sakura exclaimed in shock. Her blonde companion smirked.

"I know. But you love it. Ramen always cheers you up when you're sad, and right now, Sakura, you need all the cheering up that you can get. I can ignore the fat and calories of it for once."

"Ino-chan…" A look of puzzlement appeared on Ino's face at Sakura's suddenly serious expression. "Thank you for being such a good friend. I really don't deserve it after I ended our friendship just so we could compete over Sasuke." Ino's face relaxed into a content smile at the pink haired medic's words.

"Don't worry about it Sakura-chan."

* * *

The secretary looked up from the files she was updating on her computer to smile at the two kunoichi as they headed over to her desk to sign out for the end of their shifts. Sakura smiled back at her, while Ino reached for the clipboard to sign both of them out.

"Anything new ladies?" the secretary asked them companionably.

"We're just heading off to Ichiraku Hoshiko-san," Ino replied, returning the clipboard to its usual place on Hoshiko's desk. The two of them exchanged a knowing look, which Sakura thankfully didn't catch. Almost the entire village knew how badly Sakura had taken it when Sasuke left. While she was still functional enough to continue bother her duties as a kunoichi and her training as a medic-nin, she was still prone to small bouts of depression, and Naruto alone knew for certain how many nights it was that she'd cried herself to sleep while clutching their old team photo. Working helped to occupy her mind and keep out thoughts of _him_, which was why she had spent a great many nights in the library during Naruto's two and a half year absence, reading up on healing techniques and practicing them in a secluded corner until she collapsed from exhaustion. (The librarians had learned to ignore it when they found her like this after they'd received a few of her superhuman punches for foolishly trying to wake her.)

"Well, have a nice day—" the secretary began. Before she finished speaking, however, a team of medics burst through the front doors carrying four badly wounded shinobi on stretchers.

"Get Tsunade-sama now!" the head medic bellowed.

"Lee-san!" Sakura cried, managing to barely recognize who was on one of the stretchers through all the blood and gore coating him.

"Sakura-san," Lee moaned, obviously suffering immensely.

"Haruno-san, thank goodness that you're already here," the medic addressed her. "They were badly wounded when we found them near the border, and that was hours ago! We need your and Tsunade-sama's help right away if they're to have any hope of survival."

"Of course," Sakura replied briskly, accepting the task even though her shift had just ended. She led the medic team toward the intensive care unit. Ino winced as she caught sight of the state of the four injured ninja. She recognized a badly beaten up Hyuuga Neji, Tenten, and Maito Gai in addition to the already identified Rock Lee. All four bore bloody gashes from kunai knives and shuriken, as well as some serious burns. Gai's eyebrows had been almost entirely burned off. **(A/N: Muhaha, death to the freakishly thick eyebrows!)**

"Who did this to them?" Ino heard Sakura ask the head medic.

"They fled as soon as we arrived, but we were able to identify them. It was those bastards from Orochimaru's Sound Village and… Uchiha Sasuke." Ino heard Sakura's sharp intake of breath at the name of her beloved surfacing at such a time, but her friend did not falter. There was no time for hesitation in Sakura's mind when the lives of her friends were at stake.

* * *

Sakura sighed with exhaustion as she slumped against the wall, thoroughly wiped out from her efforts. **(A/N: I have no knowledge of medicine beyond the skill necessary to apply a Band-Aid, so just imagine whatever you think she had to do.)** Tsunade had arrived after about five minutes to assist her, but it had still been a huge job for just the two of them. Sadly, they were the only medics in the whole village skilled enough in the whole village (and, with the notable exception of Kabuto in Otogakure, the possibly the whole world) to be of any real use here.

She panted, concentrating on breathing in and out while allowing a satisfied smirk to creep onto her face. All four members of Gai's team would live. Granted, Neji's Byakugan wouldn't be fully functional for a while, and Tenten had nearly lost her arm, and Lee would be out of taijutsu training for a while (again, but thankfully this time he wouldn't need any additional surgery to be able to return to his ninja career), and it would take months for Gai's eyebrows to grow back to their usual abnormal thickness (in the mean time he would look somewhat normal, except for the spandex), but no one had died, which said a great deal about Sakura's and Tsunade's medical prowess.

"Sakura-san," she heard Neji call from his bed across the room. The Hyuuga was the least injured of the four ninja, the other three of whom were sleeping after their close encounter with death. He had a strip of cloth covering his eyes in an attempt to discourage him from their use, but just because his Byakugan wasn't working _perfectly_ didn't mean that he didn't use it anyway. He could still see with it, but the range was smaller, only about seven meters or so in all directions. Which just so happened to be about the size of this hospital room. Lucky Neji.

She walked over to his bedside, trying not to show her tiredness. If he needed her for something it was her duty as a medic to help him, even if she was about to collapse from exhaustion.

Neji appeared to be able to see her thoughts just as easily as he could see her location (or maybe she was just easy to read). Either way, he smiled at her.

"Are you alright, Sakura-san?" She blinked, a bit thrown off by the unexpected question. He was the one who lay in the hospital, barely having escaped death earlier that day, and _he_ was asking if _she_ was alright?! "I mean," Neji elaborated, "are you coping emotionally with this. I heard what the medic told you. I know that you know it was Uchiha Sasuke who did this." She froze temporarily at the name before replying.

"Of course I'm fine," she lied unconvincingly. Neji's expression wasn't amused. She sighed. "I know he's a traitor. I know he left the village and he joined Orochimaru and he would be more than wiling to do this to his former comrades. I know that, but it's just… it's… I can't stop believing in him, Neji. No matter what he's done, I keep on believing that he'd never really hurt us and-" she broke off as her voice gave out and tears began to fall from her sea green eyes. Neji gave her a sympathetic look as she started to cry in truth. Through her sobs she hiccupped something about still being just a stupid little fangirl who couldn't face the truth and move on. Neji awkwardly patted her on the back; crying girls made him uncomfortable, but he wasn't an ice cube like Sasuke who could just sit there and watch when someone so clearly needed comfort.

"Sorry," Sakura sniffed after a few minutes. Neji grunted, attempting to return to his usual stoic manner after that rather unsettling display of emotion. She laughed softly at this awkwardness and he smirked, pleased that he had been able to cheer her up. The two of them sat there like that for a moment before Neji made another attempt at starting a conversation.

"Have you heard from Naruto recently?" he asked. Sakura smirked, sensing what his true question was.

"No, I haven't," she replied. "He's still on that mission with Hinata and the rest of Team Eight; they can't risk correspondence." Neji nodded stiffly. Sakura smirked at his obvious uncertainty before continuing. "Don't worry, Neji-san. Naruto's too much of an idiot to realize that he has feelings for her, and Hinata-chan is too shy to be able to speak to him without fainting. They wouldn't be able to start any romantic relationships without our help if they were kept on a team alone together for years, let alone on a team with Shino and Kiba, who'd be more than willing to kill Naruto if he tried anything." Neji looked relieved by her response; he had been dreading the idea that Naruto might finally hook up with his cousin ever since the hyperactive blond had been temporarily assigned to Team Eight for the duration of their next mission. It wasn't so much that he dreaded the idea of Hinata's love finally being requited as that he dreaded the idea of Naruto having the potential to break up with her, an action that would hurt his cousin dearly. Neji took the word 'overprotective' to a whole new level wherever his cousin and future clan head was concerned.

"Still," he said, "I wonder what's keeping them away for so long. It's rather quiet around Konoha without him causing a near-catastrophe every other day." Sakura nodded in agreement, turning to gaze absentmindedly out the window. She really did miss Naruto; he had been like a brother to her ever since he'd come back from his two and a half year training journey with Jiraiya. They had been gone for nearly a month, the set approximation for how long their mission should take; he should be back any day now. In the mean time though, Neji was right: things did get awfully dull without Naruto there to cause trouble.

_Hurry back soon, okay Naruto._

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto sneezed as he leapt through the canopy of a dense forest near the border of the Land of Fire. **(A/N: In Japan, it's believed that you sneeze when someone talks about you.) **

"Daijoubu **(are you alright)**, Naruto-kun?" Hyuuga Hinata asked from just behind him. She pushed off a tree limb, drawing even with the blond kitsune. He turned to face her, his signature goofy grin plastered upon his features.

"Heh, I'm fine Hinata-chan. It's just a little sneeze, dattebayo!" She nodded, smiling slightly at his bright nature. _N-Naruto-kun_, she mentally stammered his name. Hinata tried not to play with her hands; part of her attempts to change herself had been to try to outgrow her various nervous habits, and playing with her hands definitely counted as a nervous habit. However, no amount of personal growth and willpower would have been able to prevent the small flush from creeping onto her cheeks. She was, after all, Hyuuga Hinata. Naruto noticed her reddening face, and instantly his demeanor changed from goofy to completely concerned for her well being.

"Hinata-chan? Daijoubu?" She nodded, blushing even more furiously at the extra attention he was giving her. Naruto did not appear convinced; contrary to her hopes of being left alone, he peered even closer at her. "Are you sick, Hinata-chan?" She tried to stammer out a reply around the suddenly massive lump in her throat that made it difficult for her to even breathe, much less talk to _Naruto_. Luckily, Kiba, who had been eavesdropping on their entire conversation in case something like this happened, decided to intervene at this point by distracting Naruto from the near-fainting Hyuuga heiress.

"Hey, Naruto, I suggest that you pay attention to where you're going before you do something stupid like running into a tree!" he called to the blond from up ahead. Naruto turned towards Kiba to shout back at him that while Kiba may have to worry about such embarrassing things as running into trees, he was the future next Hokage, and wouldn't make such a careless mistake. While he was distracted by shouting this, he lost track of where his jumps were taking him, and promptly ran into a tree. Hinata turned to go help him, but was halted by Shino putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Hinata," the quiet insect specialist addressed her, "are you alright? Naruto's presence always makes you feel uncomfortable." She bit her lip before nodding to Shino, feeling guilty for even this half-lie told to her teammate. Naruto's presence did distract her and make her feel uneasy, but in a pleasant sort of way; she certainly didn't want Shino and Kiba to try to separate the two of them. It appeared that Shino understood this, for her nodded back to her before heading over to make sure that Kiba did not further injure Naruto. The Inuzuka's idea of helping a comrade back onto their feet appeared to be getting Akamaru to bite Naruto's arm and drag him into something resembling a sitting position. Of course, it was fairly obvious that this was special treatment reserved for Uzumaki Naruto, because Kiba would never dream of being so cruel to someone like Hinata, and he and Shino got along well enough that it was obvious he did not make a habit of having his dog bite the Aburame to forcibly drag him up after a fall.

* * *

Naruto grumbled in his sleeping bag that night. Kiba had insisted upon helping him for quite some time, saying that the fall he took might have hurt him, (It hadn't even been that serious!) and Shino hadn't done much to discourage his teammate's actions. Hinata had stood on the edge of the group, the same unhealthy shade of red as before. When he asked Kiba if she was sick, the dog-boy had had the nerve to hit him and call him a dumbass! Since when was it at all dumb of him to show concern on behalf of his friends, even when that friend was weird little Hinata, who never managed to get out three words to him without stuttering or turning a deep shade of red. Sometimes, he just didn't understand the bizarre things that went on with this team. He didn't even know why Tsunade had assigned him to their cell in the first place; Kakashi was still perfectly available to take Kurenai's vacant spot. The blonde lady Hokage had muttered something about 'keep Naruto busy so he doesn't run off after Sasuke' when he'd asked her. As if he actually would run off after Sasuke if he weren't given tasks to keep him occupied! Well, he would, but that wasn't the point! It almost sounded like they didn't trust him to think things through before acting! (Which, come to think of it, they couldn't.)

He sighed in exasperation. Sometimes, he wished that life could be a little simpler, like it had been during his Genin days. That had been the life: just him, Sasuke, and Sakura, going on missions together and generally behaving like brothers and sister. Then Sasuke had had to go and leave and join Orochimaru and…

No, he wouldn't think about that. He had promised himself that when he came back to the village he would have grown up, and that meant accepting events of the past. He never would stop trying to get Sasuke to come home, but he had to at least pretend that he had accepted that his best friend had left in the first place. He should have been able to accept that after what Sasuke himself had said to him when they met up at one of Orochimaru's bases that previous summer, but he hadn't. Even after he was told by the Uchiha avenger that his own life had been spared merely on a whim, he hadn't believed it for one second. To him, Sasuke would always be his brother. Always, no matter what he did. Nothing could break their bond. He would just have to keep believing that, and maybe someday he could get Sasuke to come back to the village. He had to keep trying, for Sakura's sake if not his own. He had seen her state when he came back to the village, and it hadn't been pretty. That had been the primary reason for him to bury his own feelings of sorrow over Sasuke's betrayal; he had to appear strong so that Sakura could have someone to turn to. Sometimes it was hard, trying to do the right thing. Acting as though he didn't hurt every day at the memory of his failure to fulfill his promise had been about as easy as ripping out his own heart.

_Teme, why did you leave?_ He wondered, rolling over so that he faced away from the rest of his temporary team. He felt the salty sting of tears forming in his eyes, and he didn't want Kiba and Shino to see it and mock him, or for Hinata to see it and worry over him.

There was almost no light on this moonless night, making it difficult to discern any real shapes in the shadows of the forest. But Naruto was fairly sure as he drifted off that those two points of red he saw watching him from the bushes weren't berries, and that the outline behind them had been man-shaped. He would never know for certain though. He drifted off to sleep before he could get up to investigate it properly.

* * *

When Naruto awoke the next morning, he had no memory of the red eyes that he may have only imagined seeing in the bushes. He did, however, feel an inexplicable sense that someone or something was watching him. Throughout the whole chore of packing up their camp he remained silent, though the desire to look over his shoulder and catch whoever was spying on him was almost overwhelming. He somehow knew, in the strange instinctive way that people often know things, that if he looked then the person would vanish and they would not come again. Even though this feeling of being watched was rather uncomfortable, Naruto knew that he did not want the other to leave. Their presence felt… familiar, comforting, like the reassurance offered by an old friend. As they finished packing their supplies and turned towards the direction of Konohagakure to begin their journey for the day, he halted, turning around to face the now-deserted campsite with a relaxed smile on his face.

_ Does this mean that you're finally willing to come home again? You'd better not let Orochimaru kill you... I know that you said you were willing to let yourself die, but you'd never actually go through with that… would you? You can't. You just can't die. Sakura-chan and I wouldn't be able to handle it. Please, come home… Sasuke._

* * *

**A/N: Okay, just to let people know: contrary to popular belief, 'teme' does not mean bastard in Japanese. It is just an offensive version of the pronoun 'you.' I have seen some translations of the literal meaning of it and why there are so many versions of the word 'you,' but my knowledge of Japanese is nearly nonexistent, so suffice to say that teme means you. I only learned this recently myself. Thank you to Ceridwen Inari for clearing that up for me. So a lot of what I have Naruto say is actually really redundant; I have him addressing Sasuke as 'you' and 'teme' in the same sentence. Since a lot of people don't know that 'teme' means you, I'm leaving that as it is for now. The reason why I pointed that out here was so that if anyone points out the redundancy of those comments, I can say that I have already acknowledged it.**

**Another note: Updates for this story will probably take longer than they did for my other story, **_**Forgotten Dream**_**. This is because the chapters here are much longer than they were in **_**Forgotten Dream**_** (this one was 5,700 words, while chapters for that story averaged at about 1,800 words), and I pretty much worked myself ragged to finish the other story as fast as I did. I'm not going to pressure myself as much this time, so updates will consequently be a lot slower. Still, updates will probably occur at least once a week.**


	3. Eternal Phantom Dreams

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Three: Eternal Phantom Dreams

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto; I own only the plot of this fanfic.**

**A/N: I am going to try to make this story focus equally on Naruto and Sakura, because this is a Team Seven oriented story and Naruto **_**is**_** a part of Team Seven. However, I find it really hard to write from Naruto's perspective, because he's so bright and happy and my natural writing style is somewhat dark. At the very least, he's nowhere near as easy for me to write about as Sasuke and Sakura. I will try my best to include him, but I can't be sure that I'll succeed, and I apologize in advance to anyone who thinks that I slight him in this story. (Although this chapter is almost entirely about him…)**

* * *

_Sasuke._ All day, Naruto had been certain that the dark avenger was following them. It was weird: Shino, Kiba, and Hinata were all trackers, yet they didn't seem to sense a thing. Naruto was absolutely certain that he wasn't going crazy and imagining things; he wasn't the sort of person to delude himself by imagining what wasn't there. And yet it perplexed him (if Naruto knew such a high-level word as 'perplexed') that none of the others could sense a thing, when he felt completely convinced that Sasuke was just behind they four of them.

_What are you doing, Teme?_ he wondered, a bit suspicious of Sasuke's motives. Naruto may still believe that deep down his best friend was still good, but that didn't mean he was oblivious to the fact that the Uchiha had willingly joined Orochimaru, aka the guy who had assassinated the Third Hokage and abused countless innocent people. Honestly, Naruto didn't know what his best friend was entirely capable of anymore, and he didn't want to find out the hard way. Better to be cautious now, rather than die later.That in mind, Naruto chose not to mention the Uchiha's mysterious reappearance to his team. They didn't know Sasuke like he did; more likely than not, they would decide that he was a threat to their mission, and needed to be dealt with. Naruto wanted to be sure of his allies' willingness to follow him when he finally confronted his closest friend; they could not risk another incident like the one a couple of months ago at Orochimaru's lair. If they failed again this time, who knew how long it would take them to find Sasuke again. In fact, it would be more likely that they would never find him again. They only had about a month left after all, and Orochimaru had many lairs. It looked like this would be his last chance to try to save the Uchiha before their time ran out and Orochimaru took his body.

_Sasuke, teme, please, come home now, before it's too late. Sakura-chan and I don't want you to die. Please, teme, if not for your sake then for ours._

* * *

They camped beside a river that night. They were only two days' travel away from Konoha; already the weather seemed more like the typical temperate climate of the village they had all grown up in. A few days ago, their return journey had taken them to the fringes of the great forest which gave the Village Hidden in the Leaves its name. All four teenagers seemed more relaxed now that they were closer to home, and the slight tension that always appeared in ninja whose mission required them to cross a country border had all but vanished. Despite their ease in the familiar area, they still didn't fully allow themselves to relax: they were ninja, after all, and ninja had to be alert to potential threats at all times.

Naruto appeared to be the exception to this rule. He perched on his sleeping bag, eating voraciously from one of the many cups of instant ramen he had packed for the mission and appearing to be utterly oblivious to his surroundings (including the rather disgusted looks he was getting from the other members of his team). If you hadn't seen his iron determination in combat, it would seem a wonder that he had survived this long as a ninja.

"Aah, that's the stuff," he cried in satisfaction upon finishing his meal. He flopped onto his back, his hands tucked behind his head, staring up at the stars with a huge grin plastered upon his features. Hinata smiled at him, but Kiba's look of disgust at the manner in which he ate his meal had not entirely vanished. Shino sat on his sleeping bag, brooding in complete silence, his expression completely invisible thanks to his high collar and sunglasses. They sat like this for a few moments before Naruto once again broke the silence.

"Um, I have to… you know," he informed them while standing up. The blond headed into the trees, trying to make his moves appear casual. As soon as he judged himself to be completely concealed from the others (unless Hinata tried her Byakugan or something, but she definitely was _not_ like that), he halted, facing the trees before him with an objective look upon his face. The presence that he had felt all day had not faded, to his immense relief. It appeared that Sasuke had chosen to follow them after all, which made his task much easier.

"You can come out now, Teme," he addressed the forest, careful to keep his voice low enough that the three shinobi in the camp by the river wouldn't hear him. Nothing happened. Not even a leaf stirred to give away the position of the Oto-nin, yet Naruto could sense that his rival was here, in this very clearing. "Teme, c'mon, don't be like this. You have to come back to the village. Sakura-chan needs you to come back; Kakashi-sensei needs you to come back; _I _need you to come back! Please, teme, don't do this to us!" his voice rose on the last part, to the point that he looked over his shoulder to check that the others hadn't heard, but it seemed to be of no use. The forest remained as silent as ever; Sasuke wasn't coming out of hiding.

Naruto reached for a kunai, toying with the idea of forcing the raven haired shinobi to come out before realizing its stupidity. It would be useless, even counter-productive to force Sasuke to come out: if Sasuke won the resulting fight he would flee with the full intent of never letting Naruto find him again. If, however, Naruto won, there was still the matter of the village elders to consider. They were not overly thrilled with Sasuke for running away and joining one of Konoha's sworn enemies. All it would take was for Sasuke to say one thing to remind them of the charges against him, and he would be executed within the week, sole bearer of the Sharingan or not. One last time, Naruto decided to try to convince Sasuke to come out on his own.

"Please," he begged. It cost him every ounce of his pride to do so, but he was willing to if it would get Sasuke to see sense. "Please, come home! Sasuke!" _Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke…_ the forest rang with the echoes of his shout; in his desperation he had forgotten to keep his voice lowered.

A leaf quivered on a nearby bush. Naruto's heart leapt in joy before the creature came out, revealing itself to be just a squirrel.

"Damn it!" he screamed, no longer caring if the others heard him. In a considerably fouler mood, Naruto returned to camp. He returned to his former seat, his posture clearly saying 'I'm in a really bad mood right now and if you value your life you won't mess with me.' Kiba and Shino took the hint and ignored him. However, Hinata chose to ignore the warning signs and sat down beside him, a gesture that would have been suicidal in most other people. With Hinata though, it was just a display of her natural concern for the welfare of every other well-meaning human being on the planet.

"N-Naruto-kun?" she stammered out his name, obviously afraid that he would choose to vent his anger on her for daring to speak with him. He felt a brief flash of guilt for scaring her: Hinata was always so nice that seeing her hurt could make anyone instantly feel repentant. (Except for a vengeful Neji during their first ever Chuunin Exam, but there had been extenuating circumstances then.) Naruto sighed.

"Sorry, Hinata-chan," he told her, facing forward so that he wouldn't have to see that scared expression on her face and have to face the knowledge that he had been the one to put it there. She relaxed when it became apparent that he wouldn't attack her.

"N-Naruto-kun, may I ask you something?" she inquired. Naruto, being Naruto, did not make the comment that she just _had_ asked him something, and instead nodded to show that he was willing to answer her. "W-why did you shout Sasuke-san's name earlier?" The boy froze at her question; he had not known that she would choose to ask him _this_. However, she had chosen to ask him about it (Naruto was much too kind to point out that he had agreed to let her ask but had said nothing about answering), and so he felt obligated to answer her. To conceal his nervousness that she wouldn't believe him, he put on his usual mask of idiocy, acting as though it didn't matter to conceal his feeling of disappointment.

"I just thought that I sensed his chakra, you know Hinata? Pretty stupid of me, I guess. I mean, I'm on a team of tracking specialists and I'm the only one who can sense that a guy's following us and I don't find anything weird about it. I'm a pretty big idiot, aren't I?" Hinata turned away so that he wouldn't see the look on her face. _I don't think you're an idiot, Naruto-kun. You just miss your friend. I don't think that's at all stupid of you. I think that it's kind, and brave, and shows that you're a really good person._ Hinata only wished that she had the courage to say that aloud. As it was, Naruto misinterpreted her silence and the shifting of her gaze as signs that she was just unwilling to actually call him an idiot to his face, though he was sure that she was thinking it. He sighed in frustration. Would anyone believe him? He knew that he wouldn't believe it if someone else said the same thing. Could he really expect anyone else to?

_Teme…_

* * *

Naruto sulked the next day, as much as Uzumaki Naruto ever _can_ sulk. In other words, he appeared to be a little upset and only talked about as much as an average human being, instead of being a constant chatterbox. He had taken Sasuke's lack of a response very hard; it was his third failure at persuading the Uchiha to return to the village.

Once again, Hinata deliberately sought him out in order to comfort him. Around midmorning the shy Hyuuga heiress approached him. She trailed him in silence for a few minutes before daring to speak.

"N-Naruto-kun," she addressed him "daijoubu? I-I mean a-are you feeling alright about S-Sasuke-san?" He turned to face her, his face unusually somber. All his discomfort from the previous day appeared to have vanished at this moment, and he spoke with utmost confidence.

"He's here, Hinata-chan. He's still following us." _Naruto-kun?!_ Her shock must have made its way onto her face, for Naruto smiled his assured smile. "Heh, I know, it sounds stupid. I don't know why you guys can't sense him, but Sasuke is following us. I just… know that he is, dattebayo!"

_ Naruto-kun really does think that Sasuke-san is here right now. I can't sense his presence, but it's not like Naruto-kun to make things like this up. He's telling the truth, I know he is! Naruto-kun doesn't lie. I can't sense Sasuke-san's chakra, but there's still one way to locate him…_

"Byakugan!" Hinata cried. The veins bulged beside her eyes, very prominent against the flawless creamy skin of the rest of her face. Naruto looked a little shocked that she had activated her kekkei genkai seemingly for no reason, but she disregarded it. Kiba and Shino would believe her enhanced vision even if they didn't trust Naruto; this was the only way for them all to be certain if Sasuke really was following them.

The black and white world of the Byakugan appeared before Hinata's eyes, with blue chakra glows coming from her teammates and a combination of blue and red chakra coming from Naruto. She tuned these out; they were, at the moment, unimportant. She focused her vision behind her, where Sasuke would likely be if he were following them. She did not doubt that the Uchiha was traveling under disguise, possibly a genjutsu used to fool the senses into ignoring any signs of his presence. Ordinarily, such a technique would have been effective, but the Byakugan saw everything. If she just looked hard enough…

There! About a kilometer behind them, she could sense the distinctive presence of Uchiha Sasuke leaping through the forest canopy, obviously following them. The genjutsu she had anticipated was there, though her Byakugan eyes saw through it in a second.

"He's about one kilometer behind us," she instructed them, her Byakugan still active to catch any change in Sasuke's movements. "There's a genjutsu surrounding him so that any signs of his presence will be overlooked by your senses."

"So that's why we couldn't sense him…" Kiba said, clearly annoyed that he had been deceived by something as simple as a genjutsu. He was a Chuunin after all: he should be able to deal with these things! What made it worse was that Naruto had sensed something without the aid of any bloodline limit, and he was only a Genin! The Inuzuka's ego suffered a severe blow that a Genin had beaten him, albeit a Genin that many had readily admitted would become Hokage someday. Shino sensed his teammate's frustration. Knowing that Kiba and Naruto had been rivals of sorts during their days at the Ninja Academy, he chose to console the dog-lover now, rather than have to break up a fight between the other two boys later.

"Kiba, remember, we were all fooled. Naruto probably managed to sense Sasuke's chakra because he knows him best, and he does have the Kyuubi's assistance. The fact that we did not notice Sasuke reflects nothing of our abilities as ninja. We will still be needed in the fight that is to come." Kiba's ears perked up at the word fight, and Shino rolled his eyes behind his glasses in exasperation at his teammate's immature lust for battle.

He turned to face the Jinchuuriki of the group. Normally, Naruto would be even more battle-crazy than Kiba, and they would have to watch him closely to keep him from doing something stupid. However, that did not appear to be the case now. Instead of his usual goofy expression, the blond's face was the picture of maturity and determination. Shino blinked in shock. He had not known that Sasuke's defection had had such a profound effect on Naruto. Apparently the loss of his closest friend was what it had taken to finally force Naruto to grow up. Seeing the new, improved Naruto before him, Shino almost missed the hyperactive little knucklehead of his Academy days. Almost being the key word.

"Alright," Naruto said firmly, miraculously containing himself from shouting in case Sasuke heard him, "here's the plan." **(A/N: I couldn't resist doing that, even though the 'state the plan as soon as the readers leave' thing is horribly clichéd.)**

* * *

They camped early that night. Naruto barely even bothered to mention that they could easily have pressed on for another couple of kilometers, an inconsistency which made Shino wince. If the blond was going to come up with a plan that involved tricking one of the people who knew him best, he could at least put up a good enough performance that it would have fooled a ninja like Shino, who didn't even really know him all that well. However, it appeared that his worries were groundless, for Hinata said that Sasuke's chakra did not display any signs of retreating.

Without Naruto's childish complaining to distract them, the atmosphere of their camp was tense so tense that night it was almost palpable. All four Konoha-nin waited for Sasuke to lower his guard and give them the opening that they needed. Hinata's Byakugan had to remain activated near constantly, making them grateful of the distance that made it impossible for even Uchiha Sasuke to be able to pick up on this. He surely would have fled if he had known that not only were they aware of his presence, but they were tracking his movements as well.

They had already been resting for several hours before Hinata noticed any change in Sasuke's alertness. Night had fallen long before, coating the world in its blackness, when the Uchiha finally relaxed and decided to rest until morning. Hinata nodded mutely to her companions, the signal they had all agreed upon to display that it was time for the plan to begin. There would be no full scale ninja battle involved; Naruto had forgotten neither Sasuke's new strength nor the possibility of what he could do to himself if he were forcibly returned to Konohagakure. Instead, they would talk with him. The wires in Naruto's hand were just a precaution, nothing more.

Soundlessly, they crept up on the area in which Hinata said the Uchiha had made his camp. As light a sleeper as they knew that Sasuke was, they didn't even dare to whisper 'kai' to end his genjutsu. Instead, they blindly followed Hinata's directions, hoping that the Hyuuga heiress knew what she was doing.

The plan they had agreed on was plain, concise, and obviously designed by Naruto. The four of them would creep close on all sides of Sasuke, then pounce on him at the same time while Naruto tied him down with the wires (which really were just a precaution; Sasuke did not take kindly to being forced to sit down and talk, as Kakashi had demonstrated after the incident on the Konoha Hospital roof). Like I said, the plan was obliviously designed by Naruto.

The four of them were all in position, staring intently at the area where Hinata said that Sasuke lay. Naruto raised his hand in the signal to prepare. Three Konoha Chuunin tensed, hands itching to grab weapons that they knew they would not need. Naruto's hand dropped, and they pounced.

Hinata's Byakugan made her the only person (besides Sasuke) who clearly saw everything that happened. The four of them landed on Sasuke simultaneously, jolting the Uchiha awake in a matter of seconds and ending the effects of his genjutsu. Naruto reached for his wires while attempting to hold onto Sasuke. He succeeded in tying up one hand before Sasuke caught on (Naruto was very fast at tying wires). The Uchiha quickly preformed the Nawanuke no Jutsu **(Rope Escape Technique)**,evading his former teammate's attempt at capturing him. He quickly followed it with the Body Flicker technique, moving himself to a tree limb overlooking his campsite and the four Konoha ninja there. With his usual expression of arrogance, Sasuke surveyed his would-be interrogators. The situation struck Naruto as very similar to the one they had been in several months ago when Team Yamato met up with Sasuke in Orochimaru's lair.

"Naruto," the Uchiha addressed him quietly.

"Sasuke," Naruto breathed in reply, craning his neck to be able to view the raven haired Oto-nin, just as he had done during their last meeting a couple of months ago. "Sasuke!" he cried, desperation appearing in his voice. Right now, Sasuke could easily flee their presence, returning to Otogakure and the impending death that awaited him at Orochimaru's hands. Sasuke remained unaffected by his former comrade's shouting, neither fleeing nor moving closer.

"Sasuke-san," Shino addressed him. The snake Sannin's apprentice turned so that he faced the Aburame, his onyx eyes revealing nothing, his face devoid of any signs of life. "Why are you here? What is your reason for following us?" Were Sasuke not watching them, Naruto would have responded to Shino's questions by shouting something about how the bug specialist was an idiot if he expected anyone to actually answer that. To all of their surprise, Sasuke actually replied.

"Why am I here?" he restated. It was at times like these, when the Uchiha spoke, that the changes in him became so much more apparent. In the days before he had left he would have smirked as he replied. Now, however, his face remained impassive, displaying none of his thoughts or emotions. He had become a heartless killing machine, the ideal shinobi. "It's not because of Naruto, if that's what you're thinking. It's just orders."

"Orders?!" Kiba cried.

"Orochimaru told me to investigate this pathetic village, to determine its weaknesses for the coming invasion. He said to especially watch the Kyuubi." His eyes narrowed in Naruto's direction; Sasuke had learned during their battle at the Valley of the End that Naruto was the host of the nine-tailed demon. "Apart from those requirements, and that I be back within the next month, there were no regulations set for my mission." _The next month?!_ Naruto mentally screamed. _But then, in a month… teme will… please; don't let him take you... Sasuke!_

Sasuke leapt down from the branch upon which he stood, landing next to Naruto. The blond felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

"You never learn do you?" the Uchiha asked mockingly. "You're so obsessed with "saving me," you fail to realize that my feelings are not the same. I told you that no regulations were set for my mission… I was never told that I couldn't kill you." Naruto's manner matched Sasuke's for impassiveness as the Uchiha reached for his Sword of Kusanagi. The kitsune container had decided long ago that he would never show fear to anyone, especially not to Sasuke. **(A/N: I am terribly sorry for making this part almost identical to their meeting in the manga, but it really hasn't been long enough in this story for their reactions towards each other to really have changed.)**

_Naruto-kun!_ Hinata mentally cried out in fright as the Uchiha's sword removed itself from its sheath. Even in the scant amount of moon and starlight that managed to filter through the tree canopy, the blade gleamed like a fallen star. Naruto was not making any move to stop his old friend. In a few moments he would be dead. _NO! I can't lose Naruto-kun!_ Hinata summoned some of her chakra to her hand, preparing to perform the Juuken, activating her Byakugan as she did so. She would not let Naruto die!

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shouted as she charged forward, aiming to strike the cluster of keirakukei in Sasuke's shoulder to force him to drop his sword. Naruto turned to face her, shock written on his face at her bold attack, while Sasuke's expression revealed nothing. She lunged forward, determination gleaming in her eyes, and in the instant before her palm met his shoulder, Sasuke preformed a quick series of hand seals.

"Shunshin no Jutsu **(Body Flicker Technique)**," he intoned. The Hyuuga girl stumbled forward, overbalancing now that her target was had moved.

"I will admit, Hinata," Sasuke's voice came from behind her now, "that was unexpected. Who knew that the shy little Hyuuga heiress would dare to attack an S-class missing-nin? You have improved, I will admit that. Even so," he continued, raising his hand, "you're still far beneath my level." With that he struck her, hitting the pressure point in the back of her neck. Hinata had time to do no more than gasp before darkness closed on her vision. Naruto moved as her body began to tip forward, catching the unconscious girl before she hit the ground.

"Hinata-chan! Hinata-chan, wake up, please!" Sasuke chuckled. "What's so funny you bastard?!" Naruto snapped, turning to face his former teammate.

"You're still as idiotic as ever Naruto. It's about time you grew up and realized: shinobi are only human. As noble as your idiot comrades at the Leaf Village seem, they are still just people, and as people, they have flaws, weaknesses. If you stab one with a kunai, they die. If you cut off a limb, they feel pain. When I knock Hinata out, she's unconscious, and pleading with her to wake up won't change that fact. It's time that you realized that."

"What about you, Sasuke?" Naruto asked dangerously. "You're a shinobi. Are you still human yourself?" The avenger smirked.

"No. I am no longer human, nor are you. I have the curse seal; you have the Kyuubi. Those powers changed us, altering our very DNA, until we are no longer simple creatures of emotions and tears and weaknesses. The two of us are so much more than mere humans." Sasuke's speech did not appear to go over very well with the two 'humans' present. Acting as one, Kiba and Shino attacked him as soon as he finished speaking. Shino's bugs flew in from the left, while Kiba and Akamaru preformed the Gatsuuga from the right. Without even batting an eyelash, Sasuke evaded the spinning boy and dog, hitting them with a burst of Chidori as they crashed. The bugs were killed by the same burst of Chidori, and in an instant he had teleported himself so that he was beside the Aburame controlling them. He hit Shino's pressure point just as he had Hinata's, and the bug specialist collapsed. The Uchiha then turned to face Naruto. The blond noticed with a feeling akin to horror that he hadn't even needed to activate his Sharingan to dispose of the three members of Team Eight.

"Do you see it now, Naruto? We. Are. Not. _Humans,_" he spat, making the last word sound like a curse. Almost as though he were trying to annoy Sasuke, Naruto smirked.

"Maybe you're not human, Sasuke, but I am. I was a demon once. I don't ever want to return to that state. That feeling of being all alone, of being unwanted, unloved, a monster… it's worse than having weaknesses. Much worse."

"Fool," Sasuke spat.

"It's funny that you say that. You were one of the ones who rescued me from the darkness. You acknowledged me for who I was… you were my friend. You still are, Sasuke. That's why I won't let you do this to yourself. It's why I try so hard to save you from your darkness. I've been there myself; I know how painful it is. You feel like power is the only thing that gives your life any meaning, and so you struggle on, existing solely for the pursuit of it. I know what you're going through Sasuke, and that's why I won't allow you to stay there. I won't let my best friend do that to himself."

Sasuke smirked.

"You still think I'm you're little buddy from Konoha, don't you? I've changed Naruto. I've become more powerful than I ever would have in that pathetic village. I've seen things I never would have seen if I had stayed. I am _not_ the Genin you once knew."

"But you were. You used to be that Genin, Sasuke. You still are, deep down. That's why I can't give up on you. You were my best friend then and you still are now. I can't let Orochimaru take you! Don't you see: he just wants you so he can take your body! Sasuke!" There was a blur as Sasuke once again preformed the Shunshin no Jutsu. He now stood directly behind Naruto, just as he had done with Sakura nearly three years ago.

"One thing hasn't changed," the Uchiha informed him quietly. Naruto froze, not daring even to breathe lest he miss what Sasuke had to tell him. "You're still a hopeless idiot." Naruto tensed at the insult, ready to turn and shout in Sasuke's face. Before he could do so, he felt a sharp tap at the pressure point in the back of his neck.

"Teme," he whispered sorrowfully as darkness closed on his vision. He fell forward, unconscious before he even hit the ground.

* * *

Sunlight striking his closed lids was what eventually prompted Naruto to open his eyes. Everything was white, and his first thought was that Sasuke had killed him and he was in heaven. Then he noticed the annoying beeping sound coming from beside him and realized that he was actually in Konoha Hospital, and very much alive.

"Good, you're awake." He turned to face the source of the voice. Sakura stood beside his bed wearing her white hospital uniform and clutching a clipboard.

"Sakura-chan, why am I in the hospital?" he asked.

"You were unconscious when Hinata-chan brought you here after they returned from the mission. After we determined that you had no serious injuries, we decided to just let you rest here until you woke up, rather than carrying you half way across Konoha to return you to your apartment." He nodded, glancing around the room as he did so. The other three beds in the room all appeared to be occupied. In fact, the person in the bed across from him looked suspiciously like…

"Fuzzy-brows!" he shouted, alarmed by his friend's condition. _Bang!_ He looked up to see Sakura hovering over him, fist still raised from the punch she had just delivered to his skull, her expression one of anime fury.

"Baka! Don't shout in a hospital! Lee-san is resting!"

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto muttered, rubbing the new egg-sized lump on his head. Sakura returned to her normal appearance, though she did not appear overly pleased with him.

"Lee-san's team was attacked," she informed him. "Gai and Tenten are in the other two beds; Neji already recovered." Sure enough, the other two wounded shinobi _did_ look a lot like Lee's odd teacher and Tenten now that Naruto knew to look for it. "Neji-san said that it-it was S-Sasuke-kun who did this to them," Sakura managed to get out. Naruto turned back to her, horrified.

"But Sasuke would never do this! He couldn't!" Sakura shook her head, trying to hold back tears. He would. He did. Sasuke had attempted to murder their friends, his former comrades. Naruto stared at the floor, unable to bear looking at Sakura's face and see his own misery reflected there.

"Naruto?" she ventured. He looked up to face her, the usual gleam absent from his eyes. Sakura gulped. "Hinata-chan said that you guys met up with Sasuke-kun on your mission. Is that true?" He nodded, not daring to speak. "Wh-what did he say?"

"He said he was no longer human and the Sasuke we knew doesn't exist anymore. He attacked Hinata-chan and defeated Kiba and Shino just like that. He called me an idiot and knocked me out. I… I don't know if we'll be able to find him again in time Sakura-chan. We only have a month, and he could be anywhere in the world. And even if we do find him, I don't know if we can save him. I never give up Sakura-chan, I made you a promise and I intend to keep it or die trying, but I think that now… we may… he might… Sasuke'll… We might not be strong enough to save him." Sakura nodded, the lump in her throat preventing her from speaking. She headed for the door, not pausing or daring to look back. Naruto's sympathetic eyes followed her the whole way. Sakura softly closed the door so that she wouldn't wake Lee and his team, and began to walk down the hall.

She got three steps before the tears consumed her. She buried her face in her hands, sobbing because she might lose Sasuke after all and it was all her fault for not becoming strong enough and Sasuke would die never having truly been happy and she was a failure at the one thing she had really really wanted to be able to do and…

Tsunade found her like this a few minutes later. She put a comforting arm about her pupil's shoulders and allowed Sakura to go on crying, stroking the girl's hair and telling her that it would be alright. Inwardly she cursed. Like Ino, she blamed Sasuke for what he had done to Sakura; if the Uchiha ever returned, he would have to deal with a horde of Sakura's angry friends who wanted recompense for her suffering. Right now though, there was nothing they could do but to lend a shoulder for Sakura to cry on and be as kind to her as they could.

"Poor Sakura," the female Sannin whispered, "you're only sixteen and already you're having to go through hell because of a boy." Her apprentice sniffed, nodding. Tsunade smiled at her in a motherly manner, wishing that there was more she could do for the girl.

_You have this to pay for when you get back, Uchiha._

* * *

Naruto could hear the sounds of Sakura crying in the hall from his bed. He tried to shut it out, wishing that she didn't have to suffer so. Still, this might be kinder. It would be beyond cruel to give her false hope and then have it crushed before her eyes. At this point, there appeared to be a very real possibility that they wouldn't be able to save Sasuke. Maybe it had always been that way. Maybe that whole dream of Sasuke returning to the village and things going back to normal was just that, a dream. Maybe that's all his promise had ever been, just a faint, impossible hope, one which they could never give up on. Maybe it was all just an eternal phantom dream.

* * *

**A/N: I apologize to anyone who was annoyed by how similar this chapter was to actual meetings in the series. I couldn't tell if doing that was ironic or annoying. The scenes just planned themselves out like that in my mind. Also, I am editing this story myself, so if you find any spelling or grammar errors with it, please notify me of them. I know what this was **_**supposed**_** to say, so when I reread it to edit, my mind glosses over a couple of mistakes. Feel free to point them out to me if you catch them.**


	4. Eternal Determination

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Four: Eternal Determination

**Disclaimer: ****I don't do evil cliffhangers (that often) in my stories. I have left out the entire last story arc of the Naruto plotline. And I am still wondering what is going to happen in the next manga chapter. (Cue rant of spoilers, don't read it unless you know what happened in the last manga chapter: Kishimoto is **_**evil!**_** I wanna know why Tobi kidnapped Sasuke! Tobi is Madara, he is not Obito people. Obito **_**died**_**, his body was completely mangled by those falling rocks in Kakashi Gaiden. Plus, Tobi said he was Madara, so he is. But what does he want with Sasuke?! Evil Kishimoto for writing such a wonderful series that we are all obsessed with and then leaving us with evil cliffhangers! He hates us.) I think we can all tell that I am not Masashi Kishimoto and I therefore do not own Naruto. (Wow that was a long disclaimer.)**

**This chapter is dedicated to MusicLuva and sadbird, who review pretty much every single thing I write and always make me smile. You two rock!**

**A/N: Thank you** **to the DragonBard for pointing out the error in this chapter; it's been fixed now.**

* * *

_One month._ The limit resounded in her mind, almost deafening her with its incessant chanting. _You have only one month before he dies._

Sakura crept softly through the massive warren that was the official library of Konohagakure. It was long after closing time, technically she wasn't allowed here, but she and the librarians had reached an unofficial agreement concerning her presence here over the last few years. They would overlook it when they found her here after hours, and in return she would refrain from resorting to violence within the building.

_Where is it?_ She wondered, peering at the shelves. She knew that the particular text she sought was here somewhere; she'd seen it before. So where was it…?

_Ah, here it is!_ With a smirk of satisfaction on her face, Sakura reached forward to pluck the slender volume from the shelf. It was so light in her hands that one would wonder what of value could possibly be written in it. But Sakura knew that its size and weight were deceptive. She tucked it against her side, the smirk still on her face. This small book was her key to saving Sasuke.

* * *

Naruto walked towards his favorite place in the world, the Ichiraku ramen bar, deep in thought. (Well, thinking.) A grin spread across his face and he had to refrain from giggling as he remembered what had happened earlier that day.

_Flashback_

It had been about five minutes since Sakura left the room, trying vainly to hide her tears from him. Prior to leaving she had informed him to wait in the room until a doctor arrived to assess his condition and discharge him if they deemed fit. Naruto was about to scream with frustration. Even when he'd been here after his fight with Sasuke at the Valley of the End nearly three years ago, he had had to be forced to remain in bed, and his injuries had been considerably worse that time. That doctor had better get here soon or else he'd give them some real injuries to think about. (The thought of disobeying had never even occurred to him. With Tsunade as Hokage and Sakura as her apprentice, Naruto had become considerably better-behaved. He liked all his limbs intact, thank you very much.)

The doorknob turned, jolting Naruto out of his reverie. The blond kitsune vessel was crestfallen when it turned out to be Hyuuga Neji, not a doctor come to set him free. Amazingly, Neji looked awkward as well, apparently hesitating to enter the room. Wait, were those flowers in his hand? And was Neji _blushing_?

Naruto's eyes grew as wide as saucers as the obviously uncomfortable Hyuuga crossed the room, stopping beside Tenten's bed. He placed the flowers in the vase on her bedside table, a tender expression on his face as he gazed down at her unconscious form. After a moment or so of looking at her with a caring expression that made Naruto want to gag, he turned to face the blond, his sudden harsh glare daring Naruto to laugh.

Now Naruto may be an exceptionally dense idiot who _still_ could not tell that Hinata was in love with him, but he knew what giving flowers to a girl meant. The fact that _Neji_, who was second only to Sasuke in terms of being an emotionless ice cube, had just displayed what could only be described as a 'sign of affection' towards Tenten set his little underused brain into overdrive, causing him to gasp like a fish for almost a full minute before he could manage to form any sort of verbal response.

"How… you… Neji?!" he sputtered. The Hyuuga did not look amused and continued to display to the blond a glare that would have done Uchiha Sasuke justice.

"If you tell anyone, you will die," Neji hissed menacingly at him. The threat appeared to be counterproductive; instead of terrifying Naruto it returned him to his usual swagger.

"Wait 'til I tell everyone about this: Sakura-chan and Fuzzy-brows, and I'm pretty sure old man Hiashi would like to know, and-" he was cut off as Neji threw a shuriken at him, causing Naruto to yelp in a rather undignified manner. (Dimly he wondered why Neji had brought a shuriken to the hospital—did this guy _ever_ relax from being a ninja?)

"What will it take to keep you quiet?" Neji asked, sadly resigned to the fact that one of the great Hyuuga clan was reduced to buying the silence of the biggest idiot in Konoha. Naruto smirked evilly before naming his terms.

_End flashback_

Naruto sniggered at his own brilliance. A month's worth of meals at Ichiraku, paid for by Neji, and all he'd had to do was choose to wait around for that stupid doctor to show up. Life was good in the world of Uzumaki Naruto.

* * *

There was a knocking on the door of the Hyuuga mansion. Hanabi was off training with Lord Hiashi somewhere, and Neji had left earlier that day headed in the direction of the hospital (everyone had noticed the bouquet of flowers in his hand, though Hiashi had pretended not to), so Hinata was the only one home. She went to answer the door, wondering who it was but not activating her Byakugan to check. Hinata enjoyed the surprise that came with the arrival of an unexpected guest; she felt that using her kekkei genkai ruined that joy. Her hand found the side of the sliding door, and she opened it to reveal Haruno Sakura.

"Hinata-chan," the Godaime Hokage's apprentice addressed her, "I need your help."

"What is it, Sakura-san?" the Hyuuga heiress asked, more than willing to help her friend with whatever it was she needed. Sakura's next words however caught the timid girl completely off guard.

"I need you to train me."

"N-nani?!" Hinata exclaimed, reverting to stuttering in shock. Sakura mentally sighed in exasperation. She'd thought she cured Hinata of stuttering, at least among her friends and when Naruto wasn't around. Out loud she elaborated.

"I need you to train me in Juuken."

"Juuken? Sakura-san, why do you want to learn that? I mean no offense, but since you lack the Byakugan you can't see the tenketsu **(the chakra points) **or the keirakukei **(the chakra network)**. How could you use the Gentle Fist Fighting Style if you can't even see what it is that you intent to hit?" Sakura grinned broadly, lifting a book she'd held at her side, holding it at chest level so Hinata could see it. The cover depicted a diagram of the human body with the red words 'Chakra Networks: the Essential Systems of our Body' printed above it. Hinata's eyes widened; she hadn't been aware that such a book even existed in Konoha; much less that Sakura would be able to find and actually make use of it. Apparently she had underestimated the medic-nin.

"I've been researching tenketsu and the chakra network in my spare time. For medical training I've already had to memorize the location of some of the arteries on the chakra network; this was just learning the rest of it and being able to locate certain points on it, almost like when I had to learn where pressure points are located on the human body." It made sense. As a medic, Sakura already had an exceptional knowledge of the human body, and she _had_ memorized the layout of many of the body's other systems without the Byakugan's aid. It wouldn't be that hard for her to do it again with the keirakukei. The only thing keeping her from learning Juuken herself was the unique manner in which chakra had to be focused into the fingertips before being injected into another's body. If she had a proper teacher to show her that, there was a very high chance that she could master the Hyuuga fighting style. That being said…

"Sakura-san, why do you ask me?" Hinata wondered aloud. Sakura's look turned questioning, so the Hyuuga elaborated. "Why do you want my help? Wouldn't-wouldn't someone like Neji be a better choice? I-I mean, he's so much stronger than I am…" her voice trailed off sadly as she repeated the line she had been told since she was old enough to talk. "Neji is stronger than you," "Neji is better than you," "_Hanabi_ is better than you." In the eyes of her clan, she was nothing, worse than nothing, because as long as she was alive they had to keep her as the heiress, instead of giving the title to Neji or Hanabi.

"Hinata-chan," Sakura murmured sympathetically. She really hated how the other members of the Hyuuga clan treated Hinata; they acted as though she didn't have feelings or they didn't care if they hurt her. At least Neji had warmed up towards her over the three years since his fight with Naruto during all of their first Chuunin Exam. To the rest of them however, she was still just the useless heiress that they would rather replace with her younger sister or her cousin. The pink haired kunoichi put every ounce of feeling she could muster into her words as she continued her earlier comment. Hinata needed to be told that this time _she_ had been the one chosen over all other alternatives. "Neji-san may be strong, but you have something he doesn't. It may sound corny, but you're my close friend, Hinata-chan, and I'd rather have you help train me any day. You're a better teacher than he is, because you know how to keep going when it's hard, and you pass that quality on to those who follow you." Technically the last part wasn't a lie; Hinata really could motivate you when you saw how hard she had trained to try to become worthy of her family. Sakura wasn't sure that Neji wasn't an excellent teacher in his own right, but she doubted that he would have minded the slight had he known of it. He truly cared about Hinata now and tried his hardest to improve her self esteem.

"Sakura-san," Hinata said, a small smile forming on her face, "arigatou."

"No problem Hinata. You really do deserve that praise you know."

* * *

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei!" the gray haired Jounin looked up from his _Icha Icha_ novel to glance at source of the shouting. Naruto raced over towards him, waving his arms energetically to get his teacher's attention. "Sensei, have you seen Sakura-chan? I can't find her anywhere dattebayo!"

"Yeah Naruto, I think that she's training with Hinata at the old training grounds. You know, the place where you did the bell training all those years ago." Naruto's face lit up with understanding.

"Alright! Thanks Kakashi-sensei! I'm gonna go see Sakura-chan now dattebayo!" he shouted, already dashing off. Kakashi smiled under his mask, shaking his head in a mixture of wonder and amusement. Where did Naruto get all that energy from? Still grinning, the perverted ninja returned to his book, blushing beneath his mask as he read a particularly explicit scene.

Naruto dashed towards the training ground, pleased that he finally knew where Sakura was. He didn't need to see here for anything in particular, but Neji had told him that his free meals at Ichiraku _did_ have a price limit, so he had eventually been forced to leave the restaurant in search of other pastimes. Alternative pastime number one: finding Sakura to ask her to come up with something for him to do, aka annoying Sakura.

"Sakura-chan!" he cried as their training ground came into view. He could see Sakura watching as a dark haired figure who was presumably Hinata preformed a few Juuken moves. Naruto slowed as he neared them, eventually coming to a halt, mesmerized by Hinata's flawless performance of the fighting routine. Normally she would fumble and hesitate, but at the moment she appeared almost confident, flowing from one move to the next without any sign of awkwardness. "Hinata-chan," he breathed. Eventually the Hyuuga girl finished her demonstration of her clan's fighting techniques. Only then did she become aware of the presence of another person besides Sakura watching her performance.

"Naruto-kun!" she cried, apparently too shocked even to stutter.

"Hinata-chan, that was beautiful! Who ever knew that you could move like that!" Hinata's face turned an unhealthy shade of crimson at his words. Naruto had just told her that something she did was beautiful. She struggled to keep breathing in and out, in and out. "Did anyone ever tell you that you look really pretty when you fight?" That did it. The shock became too much for poor Hinata. She fainted, falling to the ground at Naruto's feet.

"Oi, Hinata-chan, are you alright?" he asked her unconscious body.

"NARUTO!" Sakura shouted; punching him on the head as her expression transformed into one of anime fury.

"Ow! Sakura-chaan…" he moaned. Sakura crossed her arms in annoyance, though her appearance did return to normal.

"So, why are you here Naruto?" she asked, considerably more civil than she had been moments before. He scratched his head for a moment, trying to remember before the little light blub went off.

"Ah! Neji cut off my ramen money for the day and I was bored, so I came here to see if you had anything for me to do."

"Naruto," Sakura muttered in exasperation, rolling here eyes. "You interrupted my training _because you were bored_?!" He nodded eagerly, failing to recognize the danger signs. Sakura took a deep breath, forcing herself to retain control and not attack him. "Naruto, I'm your friend, not your babysitter. When you're bored, don't interrupt my training just to see if I have anything for you to do, alright?"

"But Sakura-chan-"

_"Alright?"_

"Yes Sakura-chan," he replied miserably. She nodded, satisfied with his answer, and moved over to where the unconscious form of Hinata lay. The medic-nin summoned some of her chakra to perform one of her healing techniques. Her palm began to glow green as she held it over Hinata's forehead. Naruto craned his neck to peer down at the two, curious about Sakura's technique and feeling more than a little guilty that he had apparently caused Hinata to faint… again. They sat like this for a few minutes before the timid Hyuuga girl opened her eyes. Satisfied, Sakura removed her hand, ending the jutsu as she did so. Hinata sat up, blinking as she did so.

"Are you alright, Hinata-chan?" Sakura asked, concerned for her friend's well-being. Hinata nodded mutely, unable to speak properly due to the fact that Naruto was still present and… leaning over her and… Hinata struggled to retain control of herself and not faint again, but it was so hard with Naruto hovering over her like that with such a concerned expression on his face! The Hyuuga's face began to revert to its previous shade of crimson in her embarrassment.

"Hey, Hinata are you alright?" Naruto asked her, his concern increased by the odd color that her face was turning. She could only nod; her tongue had temporarily glued itself to the roof of her mouth, as it always seemed to do whenever Naruto was around. Naruto however appeared oblivious to this, and accepted her word (er, lack of words) that she was indeed fine. "Heh, sorry about making you faint like that Hinata-chan. I just wanted to congratulate you on how well you did it. I didn't think you would get knocked out like that. Sorry… You forgive me?" he asked, obviously dreading that maybe Hinata wouldn't forgive him. She nodded forcefully however, easing his worries instantly.

"O-of course I forgive you Naruto-kun!" she cried. "You-you gave me a compliment; I just overreacted!" He grinned.

"Thanks Hinata-chan!" he cried, hugging her. The Hyuuga squeaked and began to redden once more. Noticing this, Sakura chose to intervene before Hinata could faint again.

"Naruto, I think you should let Hinata-chan go now, you're choking her!" Naruto quickly released Hinata, who breathed deeply, attempting to regain control of the rising color in her face.

"Sorry about that, Hinata-chan," he apologized. She smiled at him; too busy gasping for air to properly speak yet.

"Naruto, I think that you should go now," Sakura informed him. "Hinata-chan and I need to work, and we can't do that if you're making her nearly faint every second."

"Heh, sorry about that Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan. I'll see you guys later!" he cried, dashing off to who knew where. Sakura turned to face Hinata as soon as he left.

"I'm sorry Sakura-san," the shy girl told her friend. "I interrupted your training to save Sasuke-san just because I can't control myself." Sakura smiled sadly.

"It's okay Hinata-chan. You're doing me a favor here; I can't fairly expect you to drop everything just to work on it. Besides, you're really helping Naruto to feel better. He doesn't show it much, but he's taking the business with Sasuke-kun even more harshly than I am. He needs you to cheer him up Hinata-chan, so that he can go on being the little hyperactive knucklehead that we've all grown to love. I really think he's starting to care about you like you care about him."

"Sakura-chan," her friend addressed her, staring at the ground as she did so, "thank you. I-I promise that someday I'll work up the courage to be able to talk with Naruto-kun and tell him how I feel. But now is not that time. Now, I need to help you, so that you can bring Sasuke-san back to Konoha, where he belongs." She looked up as she finished, facing Sakura so that the medic could see the determination in her pale eyes.

"That doesn't matter Hinata-chan. What matters is that you're happy," Sakura said, smiling. She wasn't even truly lying. She wanted Sasuke to return with all her heart, but she wasn't about to sacrifice her friends to achieve that end. Sasuke had already done that to her when he left; she wasn't about to repeat the same mistake. As much as it would hurt her if she and Naruto failed to save him, she knew it would hurt far more if she succeeded but lost her friends through doing so. Hinata saw this in her face and turned to the ground again, unable to meet those bright emerald eyes.

_It matters Sakura-chan. You may say that it doesn't, you may believe that it doesn't, but it does. It matters because every time you see me with Naruto, I can see that you're breaking inside. You're torn because you want him to be happy and you want me to be happy, but a part of you still wishes that you could share in that happiness. You want Sasuke-san to love you like you love him, and that's what you deserve. I know that it will be hard to return him to the village, but it's worth it! It's worth it because you need him to return, and you're our friend Sakura-san! If returning Sasuke-san to the village is what it takes for you to smile again, then we'll return him to the village no matter what. It's worth it if that's what it takes for you to be happy again._

Her thoughts must have made their way onto her face, for Sakura replied to them.

"Hinata-chan… arigatou."

_It's just the truth Sakura-san._

Once again Sakura appeared to be aware of what she was thinking. She smiled kindly for a moment before the familiar gleam of determination shone in her eyes.

"Come on Hinata-chan. Now it's time for training."

"Hai, Sakura-san," the Hyuuga replied. Hinata picked herself up, brushing some grass off of her back before turning to face her pupil. "You already understand the basics of the Juuken style, right Sakura-san?" Sakura nodded. "Good, then all you really need to learn is how to focus your chakra. It's pretty much the same as what you need to do for the inhuman strength that Tsunade-sama taught you. The only difference is that you need to focus the chakra to your fingertips, instead of your fist. Try it."

Sakura closed her eyes, concentrating on focusing her chakra. She imagined the energy gathering itself up at her center, then flowing outward. It traveled down her arm to her hand, then into the tips of her index and middle finger. In her mind's eye she pictured the fingers beginning to glow blue with her energy. Hinata squeaked in surprise. Sakura's eyes flew open to see her fingers glowing, just as she had seen them in her mind. It hardly seemed surprising to her; the mental picture had appeared too real to exist solely inside of her head. Hinata however appeared to be amazed that she had been able to do summon the chakra so soon.

"Wow Sakura-san. You got it on the first try…" Sakura caught a trace of wistfulness in her friend's voice, and realized that Hinata probably had not done so well with her own training in Juuken. From the sound of the other girl's voice, it had taken Hinata many, many tries to even succeed in summoning her chakra to the tips of her fingers. Her relatives probably hadn't been too kind about it either. Sakura felt a sudden flash of pity for the girl. It wasn't her fault that she wasn't a prodigy like Neji!

"Remember Hinata-chan, I've done this before when I learned to copy Tsunade-sama's strength. You were summoning chakra for the first time when you learned the Juuken. I only learned that part so fast because of experience, nothing else. It says nothing about your abilities as a ninja."

"Arigatou Sakura-san," Hinata mumbled. Sakura smiled sadly at her friend.

"Don't take anything the other Hyuuga say to heart Hinata-chan. They don't know just how lucky they are to have you. You have friends that love you, and if they had any sense so would they." A small smile formed on Hinata's mouth. _Sakura-san… Thank you for trying so hard to help me. Thank you for not giving up when I always despair. Thank you for not calling me worthless. You know what it feels like, don't you? That's exactly how the others treated you in the Academy, isn't it. You weren't untalented, but they made fun of you anyway for your forehead. You showed them. Now you're so brave and strong and talented, and no one would care if your forehead is large, though it's gotten to be normal-sized now. I… I want to be like you. I don't want to run away anymore. I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't, back when we took the Chuunin Exams. That promise still stands. I won't run away anymore. I'll be more like you: I'll grow stronger, and I won't listen when my father and the other members of the Hyuuga Clan tell me I'm not good enough. I'll help you and Naruto-kun accomplish your goal of saving Sasuke-san. Sakura-san, I'll become someone that my clan will have to respect! I'll become stronger, and… I'll work up the courage to tell Naruto-kun how I feel. I promise: I won't run away anymore. I won't go back on my word, because that too is my nindou, my way of the ninja._

Out loud she said,

"Since you've already mastered summoning chakra into your fingertips, it's time to move on to the next part of training." Sakura noticed the new gleam in Hinata's eye. She didn't know how, but in the minute or so of her silence, the shy Hyuuga appeared to have transformed into a completely different person. She had only one thought on the matter. _Way to go, Hinata-chan._

The Hyuuga girl slid her body into the 'guard' pose used in Juuken. She nodded her head to Sakura, indicating that the pink haired kunoichi should copy her. Sakura formed her body into a fairly accurate copy of Hinata's pose before returning her eyes to the task of watching her teacher. Seeing this, Hinata summoned a bit of her chakra to her fingertips, preparing to perform one of the simplest moves of Juuken: the Juuken Ryuu: Hakke Hachi Shou (Eight Trigrams Eight Palms) **(A/N: Thank you to** **XxRavenUchiha666xX for telling me what that was in Japanese.)**

"Alright Sakura-san, the purpose of this attack is to target the keirakukei of an opponent, injecting your own chakra into the chakra arteries in such a way that it 'plugs' the flow of chakra, rendering them unable to pump any of their energy through that given area. If this technique is used to its full potential the user would be able to halt an opponent's entire chakra flow with one hit," she recited, remembering the long lectures her father had given her about why Juuken was acknowledged as the most superior form of taijutsu. "However to begin with, you will merely attempt to move in the proper manner. This style involves great flexibility, so that your opponent doesn't hit you during one of your attacks." Sakura nodded, showing that she understood. Hinata then began to demonstrate the proper manner in which to attack, moving slowly to allow Sakura to clearly observe what she was doing. She lunged near the area that would have been the torso of an opponent, drew back, and returned, this time attacking at what would have been their legs. She repeated this procedure of lunging, drawing back, and attacking a new area of the body several times before returning to the original stance.

"Did you get that?" Hinata asked her. Sakura responded by mimicking Hinata's actions, lunging, drawing back, and attacking a new area. Hinata smiled, pleased with her friend's quick progress. Sakura _could_ do this. She really would be able to learn Juuken in the month or so they had left until Orochimaru took over Sasuke's body. Sure, she wouldn't have completely mastered it, but she would have a sufficient grasp of it to use the style productively in battle. "Alright, faster," Hinata barked, surprising herself with her own boldness. "G-gomen Sakura-san, I didn't mean for that to sound so harsh…"

"It's fine Hinata-chan. Actually, I'm glad that you're becoming more assertive. It shows that you really are succeeding in changing yourself." Hinata blushed slightly at Sakura's kind words, pleased to know that she was indeed making progress.

"Now, do it again, faster!" she repeated, smiling. Sakura grinned back before repeating the sequence she had preformed earlier, moving slightly faster than she had the first time. "Now again!" Hinata instructed her shortly after she finished.

* * *

By the end of the day, Sakura had gotten as fast as Hinata or even Neji when it came to performing the dodging and attacking sequence that was the basis for Juuken. The next day they would begin to work on performing it while focusing the chakra, and if they were lucky Sakura would master that fast enough for them to move on to attacking a still human (Hinata would act as target dummy) the same day. The medic-nin collapsed, panting, exhausted from her training. Hinata sat down beside her, not nearly as tired by her day of drilling Sakura.

"Sakura-san," she addressed the other girl. Sakura looked up, her breathing slowly returning to normal. "Why did you want to learn Juuken in the first place? I mean, it's a very useful skill, but how is this going to help you on your quest to save Sasuke-san?" Sakura smirked, turning to gaze in the direction of the gate out of the village.

"The Juuken itself isn't really what I'm after. All those who learn the fighting style gain a special sensitivity to the chakra network; they can sense its relative location even without the aid of the Byakugan after a while. That was what I was really after gaining. You know that I have far better than average control of my chakra, right? Where most ninja can sense just the presence of an enemy ninja, I can tell their exact location and number. What I was trying to do here was to enhance that ability. If I knew whoever it was that I was looking for very well, with an increased sensitivity to chakra, I could find that person, regardless of the distance between us. I… I wanted to use it to find Sasuke-kun." Hinata blinked, staring. Sakura's plan was, to sum it up, barely short of genius! The idea of using the increased sensitivity to chakra that came with knowing the Juuken was a very useful one; she wondered why none of the previous members of the Hyuuga clan had thought of it. It was also rather astounding that the kunoichi had seen a fighting style that she herself was not very familiar with and had been able to formulate a plan on how to use it to accomplish her own task.** (A/N: I'm pretty sure that knowing Juuken does **_**not**_** give someone increased sensitivity to chakra, but for the purposes of this story it now does.) **

"That plan is amazing Sakura-san," Hinata told her seriously. The look Sakura sent her told her more than any verbal reply. Hinata could tell, Sakura didn't think it was all that amazing; to her it had just been what was necessary to get Sasuke back. Sakura would do anything to get him back. _If she's so determined, can I really offer her any less?_

"Come here at 7:00 tomorrow morning Sakura-san. We'll train all day. I promise, I'll help you master this within a month." _I won't let you lose Sasuke-san when you're willing to give so much to save him._ Sakura smiled.

She had understood.

* * *

The morning sun was just rising over the treetops when Sakura and Hinata returned to the training ground the next morning. Hinata greeted Sakura by having her perform the dodging and striking sequence from the previous day as a warm-up for her muscles, including 128 strikes in the sequence, the maximum number used in Juuken attacks. (The number could go up higher if it became necessary, but it was very rare that one was attacked by that many enemies at the same time.) The pink haired kunoichi executed the routine easily, giving her the pleasure of knowing that she had not forgotten everything overnight.

"Alright, Sakura-san, now it's time to move on to the next step. This one should be fairly easy to learn: you must combine the previous two steps. In other words, perform the routine you just did, but focus your chakra into your fingertips as you do so, like you would in a real battle." Sakura complied, determined to master this quickly. This was exactly the same thing she had done when she learned her inhuman strength from Tsunade; the only difference was in the martial arts style. She moved through the Juuken sequence from the previous day, making sure to focus her chakra into her fingertips as she did so. Sakura succeeded quickly; after only three tries Hinata admitted that she already knew how to do this and moved on to the next phase: using the attack on another person. For this segment, Hinata would stand in as a target dummy so that Sakura would practice aiming for the keirakukei as she did so. (Privately, the Hyuuga was relieved that Sakura was a medic who would be able to heal any damage dealt to her; seeing how fast her pupil advanced did not make the next bit look very appealing.)

"Are you ready Hinata-chan?" Sakura asked her, moving into the guard stance. Hinata nodded, wordlessly telling her pupil to begin. Quickly Sakura dashed forward, striking at Hinata's chakra network. Her eyes could not see the system as clearly as the Byakugan could, but Sakura was a medic. She had already had to memorize the layout of the human body to increase her accuracy with medical ninjutsu attacks and healing; one more system was easy to learn. Recalling the diagrams she had so painstakingly committed to memory, Sakura lunged, striking at a cluster of the chakra carrying arteries in Hinata's right shoulder.

Hinata yelped as the burst of foreign chakra entered her system, shutting off the flow of her own chakra to that point. Sakura didn't even pause: the pink haired girl drew back before striking again; this time aiming for Hinata's left leg. The Hyuuga squeaked again, feeling the numbness spread over her body. Sakura repeated the procedure for a total of eight strikes, enough for her to effectively cut off chakra flowing to all of Hinata's limbs and cause the indigo haired girl to collapse.

"Here," Sakura said, sitting down beside her friend and healing the damage she had just caused. Hinata sat quietly, marveling at Sakura's rapid progress. Yes she had done almost the same thing before, but this was amazing. By the end of the day they might have to move on to Hinata actually fighting back!

Until then though, the shy kunoichi had to take what she was given. She stood up.

"Again, Sakura-san!" she cried, bracing herself for the attacks.

"Hai!" The kunoichi repeated her routine, attacking her mentor with eight more of her Juuken style strikes. By the time she finished, Hinata once again lay on the ground, most of her body numb from the effects of Sakura's attack. Sakura knelt down to heal her, her movements at the same time both deft and gentle.

"Thanks for doing this for me Hinata-chan," she all but whispered. Hinata smiled. _I don't want you to have to lose him again._

* * *

"One more time," Hinata instructed her an hour or so later, "and then we'll assume that you can do this as well and move on to the next step." Sakura nodded, already preparing herself. With a cry she attacked Hinata, lunging, recoiling, and lunging again. Her moves were as rapid and fluid as if she had been doing this for a year, instead of for a day. Even considering that she had already learned one fighting style, her progress was astonishing. Hinata marveled at her friend's ability as Sakura attacked then healed her. Once all of Hinata's chakra arteries were unblocked, she sat up, preparing for one of the final parts of training. After Sakura learned to do this, all that would be left would be for her to perfect her abilities. She had advanced at a rate faster than that of the average student, and far superior to the slow pace of Hinata's training. The Hyuuga felt no bitterness towards her friend even so. She knew what it was that was driving Sakura to perform so abnormally well, and she wouldn't trade that kind of suffering for all the talent in the world.

"Very good, Sakura-san," Hinata panted aloud, tired from taking the beatings Sakura had delivered. "We're ready to advance to the next part." Sakura's face lit up as she gasped for breath. Attacking and healing Hinata like this was hard work, even for the most talented of kunoichi. But it would be worth it in the end, if this was what it took to bring Sasuke back to the village. If she really managed to bring him back, it would be more than worth it.

Both kunoichi eased their bodies into the beginning stance for Juuken. This time, Hinata would attack Sakura back. The shy girl activated her Byakugan, preparing to go all out. She harbored no delusions about Sakura's skill; if she held back now, she would lose, badly. Haruno Sakura needed no one to coddle her anymore.

"Ready?" Hinata asked. Sakura nodded, the determined gleam in her eyes telling Hinata that she too would go all out here. "Go!" At that signal, both kunoichi leapt into action, charging towards each other with the intent to attack. Sakura thrust her left hand forward, aiming for a chakra vessel in the side of Hinata's neck. The Hyuuga girl pulled back, effectively dodging the blow, before bringing forward her own hand. She had sensed the power of Sakura's attack; a bit of the chakra had scraped her even though she had drawn back in time. She put an equal amount of her own chakra into her blow, determined not to be defeated by someone who had only just begun to learn to fight in a style that she had been trained to use since she had learned how to walk. She was at least as good as Sakura, she had to be! An extra burst of chakra rushed to her fingertips to answer the need inside of her, making it stronger than Sakura's had been. Her skill at Juuken had to be greater than Sakura's! Hinata lunged, striking a coil of the chakra network located in Sakura's right leg. The medic cried out in pain, dropping to the ground clutching the injured limb. Guilt washed over Hinata as she saw her friend lying there, hurt by what she had done to her. Sakura was only a beginner; it was unfair to lash out at her just because she was doing better at this than Hinata ever had. Hinata admitted to herself within the private recesses of her mind that really her attack hadn't been so powerful just to counter Sakura's. A part of her had _wanted_ to injure the other kunoichi, to prove that she was not being bested by someone who had only begun to learn this yesterday. That face was disturbing in itself; where had that rage come from? She brushed it aside for the moment. Right now her friend needed her.

Hinata crouched beside Sakura, who still clutched her leg, biting her lip to keep from crying out again. The medic's hand glowed green briefly as she held it over the affected area. Within moments she released the leg, apparently no longer in pain. She lay there breathing softly for nearly a full minute before Hinata dared to speak.

"G-gomen Sakura. I-I put too much power into that attack. I was trying to hurt you, but I'm really really sorry, I was just so jealous and-" she cut off as Sakura looked up at her. The look in the other kunoichi's emerald eyes told Hinata that she knew exactly what Hinata meant, and she forgave her. She had, after all, felt the same way about Ino during their later days at the Academy, after she had ended their friendship so they could properly compete over Sasuke. During her own Genin days, Sakura had been the hindrance on her team, even worse than Naruto (though by that time Naruto was far from unskilled), although she had never harbored any bitterness towards her teammates over it. Instead, the bitterness had been directed at herself, making her furious with her own incompetence. Sakura understood better than anyone else what it felt like to always be behind everyone else.

"Hinata-chan, if I can't handle that, then I can't handle this fighting style. I have to be as good as you to say that I have mastered it. Come at me with your full force. Don't hold back. If you do, I'll never become good enough. Alright?"

"…Hai, Sakura-san."

* * *

Sakura's training continued like that over the next several weeks. After only two weeks, she was able to match Hinata in talent and moved on to fighting some of the other Hyuuga. She became a regular visitor around the Hyuuga Compound; it was not uncommon to see her sparring in one of the courtyards with Neji or one of the elder members of the clan. Sakura knew, and Hinata knew, and Neji knew (even though the latter wasn't directly involved in her training, Sakura had still confided in him as one of her close friends) that she had to almost fully master the Juuken in order to gain the familiarity with sensing the keirakukei that she desired for her mission. She had less than a month in which to gain that mastery. After that, none of it would matter, because if she hadn't learned it within that time, Sasuke would be dead. In an attempt to crush this, she forced every ounce of her being into her new training, pushing herself as far as she could go. She had already failed to save Sasuke once, the night that she let him leave the village. She couldn't bear the idea of failing him again, of letting him die. She wouldn't allow for that to happen. No matter what, she would grow strong enough to save him. This determination burned within her, forcing her on beyond what she would ordinarily have been capable of. Her growth progressed as desired over the first three weeks, her power and skill increasing until she could fight even Neji with a chance of winning.

It was at the start of the fourth week that the news came.

* * *

Sakura and Naruto were called to Tsunade's office early in the morning. And when I say early, I mean that most people would still call it night. About 4:00 in the morning early. Both ninja were yawning, barely managing to walk without drifting back off to sleep. Sakura should have been used to this from the numerous times she had pulled an "all-nighter" at the hospital during the time of Naruto's absence, but that had ended when he expressed concern over it upon his return. Who knew that in a few short months she would almost utterly lose the ability to function properly at all hours of the day?

"Tsu-Tsunade-sama," Sakura yawned at her teacher, indicating that they were ready to hear the report. The Godaime did not appear to be too awake either, having been called out of bed herself just over half an hour ago and clearly wishing that she could return there. However, this news was urgent.

"Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, I have called you to my office to discuss a very grave matter. Just over half an hour ago, I was woken up from a very sound sleep… I mean, I was informed that a squad of our ninja had returned from a mission with very serious news. They were sent to spy on the Akatsuki in the Land of Rain and have reported alarming new developments. It appears that within the next month, their organization is preparing to launch an invasion of Konoha, presumably to capture the Kyuubi inside of Naruto. Naruto, I have called you here to tell you that you will not be allowed to leave the village _for anything_ until such time as this threat has passed. We cannot risk that bijuu falling into their hands. Sakura, you will be allowed to leave, but are discouraged from doing so. There is one thing you will not be allowed to do: you are forbidden from leaving this village in pursuit of Uchiha Sasuke." She raised her hand, cutting off the protests coming from both shinobi. "Sakura, he has betrayed us. You are too valuable a kunoichi for us to tolerate you missing this most dangerous time. It's either Sasuke or your village. That's what the stakes are at." Sakura nodded miserably, turning away so that Tsunade could not see her expression.

_It's the village or Sasuke-kun… I'd have to sacrifice everyone to save him… I'm sorry Sasuke-kun, but I can't do it. It's the life of one over the lives of the entire village. It doesn't matter that that one person is the most precious person to me in the entire world. I can't pick one life over thousands. It's not right and against everything I've been taught as a medic. I'm sorry Sasuke-kun. I'm sorry Naruto. I can't do it. I can't abandon my village. Sasuke-kun… I can't help you. Please, you had better have become strong enough. You had better be able to defeat Orochimaru. Otherwise… you'll die. I couldn't bear it if that happened. You have to survive, please! Sasuke-kun…_

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Note 1: I realize that Sasuke is listed as one of the main characters, but so far he hasn't really done very much. He will be appearing in the next chapter, but after that you probably won't see him again for a while. However, he will stay as one of the main characters, because this story is predominantly a SasukeXSakura story. (There will probably be more mentions of NarutoXHinata occurring in the story than there will be of SasukeXSakura, but the main plot is leading up to SasukeXSakura.) **

**Note 2: I apologize to anyone who thinks that Hinata was OOC in this chapter. I had to make her a little more confident, because otherwise she wouldn't have worked as a teacher, but that somewhat destroys what makes her Hinata. I am sincerely sorry about this, but I couldn't think of any other way to make this chapter work.**

**Note 3: I also would like to apologize to anyone who thought that Sakura's training appeared rushed. Her and Hinata training together is really only supposed to be a minor event, so I didn't want to put too much space into it. Also, I personally find it a little boring to read about the characters training to learn new abilities, and a little boring to write as well, so that part was shortened a bit from what it could have been.**

**Note 4: Finally, please review! I am mentioning that because I have had five reviews so far (from three people: MusicLuva reviewed all three chapters so far- she rocks!), and that's pretty frustrating, because there were 273 total hits to this story so far. To those of you who haven't reviewed so far, please do, because it really is frustrating to write these long stories and then have no one offer opinions. If you think this story sucks, first I will marvel that you stuck with it this long (it's four chapters and over 20,000 words), and then I will tell you to review anyway, as long as you have suggestions for improvement. To those of you who have reviewed, you rock! Give yourself a pat on the back and have a virtual cookie.**

**(Wow, I had a lot to say this time. I think I'll keep this format for the author's notes at the end; I have a lot to say at the ends of chapters in this story for some reason.)**


	5. Eternal Longing

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Five: Eternal Longing

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke would have come back by now, and it would have been done in an insanely cheesy and out of character manner. Since he is still a missing-nin and retains his emotionless personality, I think we can all infer that Masashi Kishimoto still owns the series. (And is still leaving us at evil cliffhangers after each manga chapter.)**

**Note: This chapter contains spoilers for the Naruto manga chapters 343-346. Well, not really spoilers so much as I wrote out the manga chapter in word form. Do not read this chapter if you do not want spoilers. You have been warned.**

* * *

"Sakura-san, are you alright?" The pink haired kunoichi lifted her head to face the source of the noise. Rock Lee peered down at her, a concerned expression on his face. Sakura realized that she had zoned out again. That had been happening a lot lately, ever since… No, she wouldn't think about that. The thought formed itself anyway. This had been happening ever since Tsunade had told her to abandon Sasuke to his fate.

_No, that's not fair_, she mentally chided herself. Tsunade hadn't _wanted_ to force her to give up. It had been necessary; if Sakura had continued with her pursuit of the renegade Uchiha, she would have been unavailable for the coming Akatsuki invasion of the village. She had merely chosen to save thousands of lives by staying here rather than possibly saving one by leaving.

"Sakura-san?" Lee addressed her again. She tuned back in, smiling guiltily.

"Gomen, Lee-san. I just spaced out again. I was just… thinking about… him," she said. Lee nodded to show his understanding. While Sasuke had attempted to murder him just over a month ago, Lee still managed to sympathize with Sakura over the fact that the Uchiha would soon die. The spandex-wearing shinobi had never been one to hold grudges, and anyway, he cared too much for Sakura to display any bitterness.

"Come on, Sakura-san," Lee instructed her, helping her up from the spot where the two of them had been sitting.

"Where are we going?" she asked, somewhat startled.

"You're sad about Sasuke-kun, correct? So we're going to see the one person who can always cheer you up: Naruto-kun. And, if there's one place that you can always find him, it's Ichiraku." Sakura smiled again at Lee's thoughtfulness.

"Arigatou, Lee-san."

* * *

The two of them arrived at the Ichiraku ramen bar not long after. Sure enough, they recognized Naruto's familiar orange jumpsuit sitting on one of the stools, loud slurping sounds coming from it as the blond boy inhaled his fifth bowl of ramen. Beside him, Hyuuga Neji and Tenten sat in front of their steaming bowls, clearly repulsed by their companion's ill manners.

"Mph, hi Sakura-chan," Naruto mumbled to her around a mouthful of ramen.

"Hello Naruto, Neji-san, Tenten-san. How are you?"

"I am feeling faintly ill due to his utter lack of table manners," Neji informed her, glaring at Naruto.

"There's no other way to eat ramen Neji! You have to slurp the noodles! There's no dignified way to do it!" In reply, the Hyuuga turned to his own bowl, demonstrating how he somehow managed to eat ramen in a proper and aristocratic way. Everyone present stared at him with open mouths. **(A/N: It really is impossible to eat ramen in a dignified way. Neji can only pull it off because he's Neji and the laws that govern the rest of us mortals do not apply to him.)**

"Is something wrong?" he asked them. Tenten punched him playfully on the arm, the winced, clutching her shoulder. She had only recently been discharged from the hospital; the injuries inflicted on her by Sasuke's attack had not yet fully healed.

"Here," Sakura said, moving to stand beside the other kunoichi. Her hand began to glow, indicating that she was summoning chakra to perform a medical jutsu. Tenten removed her hand from the pained area, allowing her friend access to it. Sakura moved her hand over Tenten's shoulder, noting the relieved expression that appeared on the other's face as the pain abated. Unnoticed by everyone except Sakura, Neji's expression also began to relax slightly. She smirked inwardly, pleased that Tenten had someone to care for her. The two of them would make a great couple, if Neji could ever swallow his pride enough to tell her how he felt. Briefly she wondered if he already had; Hinata had told her where Neji had been the day that she had originally asked for her training.

"Another bowl please old man," Naruto requested of the owner of the ramen stand. Sakura gaped. Sure enough, the bowl that had been mostly full of ramen when she arrived here less than five minutes ago was now almost spotless. Naruto eagerly reached for his new bowl, either not noticing or choosing to ignore the glare that Neji was shooting him. Sakura smirked. She had a fairly good idea where Naruto had suddenly gotten the money to be able to eat at Ichiraku when she knew for a fact that he had exhausted all his expendable cash here just last week.

"Sakura-san, are you going to eat anything?" Lee asked her.

"I'll have one miso ramen," she replied.

"One miso coming up," the owner informed her, already preparing her order. Within minutes the steaming bowl of noodles sat in front of her, its delicious aroma making her mouth water.

"Itadakimasu!" she said before breaking apart her chopsticks and digging in. The ramen was absolutely delicious; she could see why Naruto loved the stuff so much. She finished it all too soon, but unlike Naruto, she possessed the self-restraint not to order another bowl. Instead she turned to face the others, most of whom had already finished their own ramen. (Naruto had progressed onto his seventh bowl and showed no signs of stopping anytime soon.) Neji stood up, placing the money for his ramen on the counter.

"I will head home now," he informed them. He departed, heading in the direction _opposite_ the Hyuuga Compound, Tenten following. Sakura smiled; apparently Neji _had _told Tenten how he felt about her. From the way things looked, they were probably dating at the moment. Lee watched his teammates with a faintly disbelieving expression before tearing up.

"Love is so youthful!" he cried dramatically, a sunset background suddenly appearing as Lee preformed the 'nice guy' pose. Naruto and Sakura sweat-dropped for a moment before a light bulb appeared to go off in Naruto's mind.

"W-wait, if Neji's not hiding anymore that he likes Tenten… who's paying for my ramen?!" he shouted, his expression panicked. "Sakura-chan, please, you've got to! Neji was my meal ticket; without him I'm broke!"

"Naruto," Sakura sighed in frustration, reaching for her wallet. "Fine, but you _will_ have to pay me back for it this time!"

"Arigatou Sakura-chan! I promise I'll pay you back this time dattebayo!"

"Just make sure that it's your money this time, and not Hinata-chan's. It's not fair for you to take advantage of her feelings for you."

"Hinata-chan has feelings for me?" Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Yes Naruto, Hinata-chan has feelings for you," she informed him, exasperated that after all this time he still hadn't caught on. She set the money for her meal on the table, then reached into a second compartment of her wallet that she liked to call 'funds to pay for when Naruto does something stupid like forgetting his ramen money.' It just reflected Naruto's irresponsibility that she actually had money set aside for events such as this.

"How do you know that?" he demanded. Sakura smirked at him before turning and heading off. Naruto could be so dense that it wasn't even really funny.

"Wait, Sakura-chan, how do you know?!" he shouted, preparing to run after her.

"Hey, Naruto, you haven't paid for your ramen yet!"

"Aw, Sakura-chan, come back!" Sadly for him, the kunoichi was already too far away to hear him. Naruto ended up washing all the dishes at the ramen shop that day, and received a stern lecture from the owners about making sure he actually had money with which to pay them next time.

* * *

Sakura arrived back at her house, feeling slightly guilty for what she had just done to Naruto. She knew he didn't have any money to pay with, but he had to learn responsibility someday. Maybe having to wash the dishes would help him to remember, though it hadn't worked the first hundred or so times it had happened. She sighed fondly. Naruto would always be Naruto; that was one thing that would never change.

Sakura reached her bedroom, flopping down on her bed with a content sigh. Idly rolling over, she caught sight of the calendar on her wall. Any previous sense of relaxation vanished as her eyes fell upon the date she had previously circled in red. Today's date. The date on which Orochimaru would be able to perform the soul transfer ritual again. The date on which Sasuke would die.

* * *

Sasuke perched stiffly on the edge of his bed, hands clasped in his lap. Today was the day. His knuckles whitened as he reflexively clenched his hands into tight fists, a natural reaction to discussions of this particular topic. Orochimaru and Kabuto had been preparing him all week; today was finally the day it would happen. Today Orochimaru would be able to perform the Soul Transfer Ritual again. Kabuto had told him that he would be summoned to his master's chambers when it was time; Orochimaru was always weak as his host bodies neared the end of their cycle and could not travel to Sasuke's room. Sasuke had glared at the word 'master' (Uchihas called no one their master; to do so was to imply one's inferiority to another, something they could not tolerate), but had remained unresponsive apart from that. Everything had already been prepared. All that was left was for him to wait calmly for Kabuto to summon him.

He heard footsteps in the corridor beyond his room. He turned to look towards the door with dead black eyes. A key turned in the lock, and the door opened to reveal the gray haired medic.

"Sasuke-kun, it's time," he informed the young Uchiha. Sasuke stood up, walking past Kabuto without a word. He proceeded down the hallway in the direction of Orochimaru's room, not even glancing back at the man behind him. Kabuto narrowed his eyes at the retreating figure before jogging to catch up with him.

"You're really going to do this then Sasuke-kun?" he asked. Sasuke turned to face him, his face empty, devoid of any signs of life. One could almost believe that he had already been killed.

"I've told you before, Kabuto. I am an avenger. I am willing to do anything to follow the path that leads to my dream. If the pursuit of that path requires that I die today, then I am prepared to give up my life." Kabuto stopped in his tracks. The Uchiha continued on, apparently not caring if the medic accompanied him or not. Sasuke knew the way to Orochimaru's rooms well enough to not need an escort; Kabuto accompanying him had merely been a formality. As the older man watched him continue on his way, he couldn't help but smirk.

_I never before took you for a fool Sasuke-kun. Surely by now you would have figured it out? After the Soul Transfer Ritual takes place… heh I almost pity your naïveté. Orochimaru-sama has no intention of granting you your revenge once he has your body. To him… you're just a tool._

Sasuke could almost feel the contemptuous expression directed at his back. Instead of infuriating him as it would have done three years ago, it gave him a cold satisfaction. By all means, let Kabuto underestimate him. Let him think that Sasuke intended to give Orochimaru his body and trusted the Sannin to then fulfill his end of the bargain. Uchiha Sasuke was no fool. He had known from the beginning that Orochimaru had no intention of obeying his desires. The Sannin had been using him from the beginning. And, in turn, Sasuke had used him. He smirked.

If Orochimaru wanted his body, he would be sadly disappointed. Uchiha Sasuke would not go down without a fight!

* * *

Orochimaru lay in bed, coughing up blood. Kabuto had just left his side, telling him that his time in this body was up; he needed to perform the Soul Transfer Ritual today. The medic would send Sasuke to him shortly. Just a little longer, and he would have the precious Sharingan at his disposal. The Sannin chuckled, thrilled beyond words now that the object of his ambitions was so close at hand.

"Kuku kuhahahahahahah-"

His laughter abruptly cut off in surprise. A blade had pierced the door to his room, continuing forward to cut through both of his arms near the head of his snake summoning contract. Blood flowed freely from the wound. The fact that someone had dared to attack the snake Sannin within his own lair was odd enough in and of itself, but not what made the Sannin's eyes widen in amazement. What had really registered such shock with Orochimaru was that this was no ordinary blade. It was made of charka converted into lightning and compacted into the shape of the blade of a sword. A second sword, this one made of metal, carved the wooden door to bits in a matter of moments, revealing the man behind it.

"I knew it'd come to this," Orochimaru hissed through gritted teeth.

"I have nothing more to learn from you," Uchiha Sasuke replied, displaying no signs of emotion on the matter. "I won't show you any mercy either, even if you beg for it." He referenced an earlier statement that while he harbored no grudges against the men assigned by Orochimaru to fight him and refused to kill them, he would not make the same allowances for Uchiha Itachi. Apparently, the same also applied to his now-former mentor. The boy activated his Sharingan, the heaven seal Orochimaru had given him three and a half years ago already beginning to spread across the left side of his face.

"Orochimaru, you are weaker than me," Sasuke informed him coldly. "There's no point in sacrificing my body to you anymore.

"Big words," his master replied, "from the leftover Uchiha."

"Hmph, if I hadn't been so weak, I never would have sought you out, would I?" The two glared silently at one another for a moment before Sasuke continued. "Right mister 'Great Sannin Genius?' Perhaps the world at large would consider you gifted, but you're nowhere near the level of an Uchiha. Before us, the greatest genius in the universe merely comes off as average. And as someone who carries that name, from my point of view, your attempts to obtain our power are so disgusting they're almost funny. Saturating yourself with drugs and medicines? Transferring bodies? Your methods are pointless. Do you even have a goal anymore?

"You claim to be seeking the reason behind existence, yet all you do is make petty excuses for playing God with people's lives.

_Flashback_

_A much younger Sasuke lay on the floor of the Uchiha Compound, staring with tear-filled eyes at the face of his older brother. It was that fateful night, the night on which everything changed. The night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre._

_"Brother… why?" he managed to ask._

_"To measure my capability," came the emotionless reply._

_"Measure… your capability? That's… it? You killed… everyone… for that?"_

_"It was very important that I did," Itachi replied after a moment._

_End flashback_

"You sicken me," the Sasuke of here and now spat. He drew his Sword of Kusanagi, charging forward as he did so. Orochimaru struggled against the sword pinning his arms in place, but to no avail. Sasuke leapt forward onto his master's bed, preparing to run the other man through with his katana. Orochimaru's mouth opened, but not to scream. Instead, something flew out of it to land on the other side of the room. Sasuke turned, eying the thing with distaste.

"So your true body is a scaly, white serpent," he stated, appearing unfazed by the information. One really did have to wonder about the Uchiha's sanity if he could take this too in his stride. The real Orochimaru leered at him, grotesque and unnatural in every way. "You wanted to take over other people's bodies so badly; you experimented on your own. Now you're a pathetic shell of your former self."

"Come Sasuke-kun," the snake purred to him. **"Give me your body!!"** He lunged forward, striking the bed where Sasuke had stood moments before. The Uchiha had leapt aside at the last possible second. He was far from safe however. Two of the many snakes that made up the true body of Orochimaru lunged at him attempting to sink their fangs into his flesh. A flash of Sasuke's sword, and they had lost their heads. The Uchiha landed, skidding to a halt several feet from Orochimaru. The snake hissed sinisterly before several more of the snakes moved to attack Sasuke. They hung menacingly in the air, awaiting his next move.

Sasuke sheathed his sword, drawing in his left arm as he did so. The sleeve slid off, revealing half of his bare torso. His seal spread further along his body, beginning to change his hair color from black to gray. The black four pointed star formed on the bridge of his nose as the marks began to completely engulf his skin, changing its usual pale color into a (rather gross) shade of grayish brown.

"'Though the snake dreams of soaring through the sky,'" he intoned sinisterly, "'it is forever doomed to crawl on its belly.'" Several of Orochimaru's snakes attacked him, meeting a rather abrupt end in an explosion of blood and gore. "You'll have your chance to fly snake, in the talons of a hawk!" Two hand shaped wings had sprouted from his back. Sasuke's transformation into the second state of the curse seal had been completed; he now faced Orochimaru bearing the appearance of a demon.** (A/N: Behold, the purpose for Sasuke's stupid part two shirts! It wasn't just designed to make all his fangirls go crazy! It actually does have a practical use!)**

"Sasukeeeeeeeeeeeee!" the snake hissed, lunging forward in the direction of the young Uchiha.

_Flashback_

_A young Orochimaru stood beside a gravestone in the Konoha cemetery, his sensei Sarutobi beside him. The young boy knelt down, reaching for something he saw on the ground._

_"Oh, good eye!" his teacher praised him. "That's a white snake's molted skin!" "I've never seen one before," his pupil said._

_"Heh, me neither. They're extremely rare; very hard to find."_

_"How come it's white?"_

_"I actually don't know. No one's ever really thought to find out. But for years, they've been considered a symbol of good fortune, and rebirth."_

_"Good fortune… and rebirth…" the child repeated. His teacher smiled kindly._

_"The fact that you found it by your parents' grave must be a sign… perhaps they've been reborn into new bodies, so that someday, when you grow up, they can see you again."_

_"When's that gonna be?"_

_"Haha… I'm afraid I don't know that, either." Orochimaru smiled tenderly down at the crumpled up snake skin in his hand. In that moment, something changed. He was no longer an orphan without a family or a purpose. He now had a goal. Someday, he would meet his parents again. If it took centuries, he would wait that long. He would find a way. Somehow, he would find a way. _

_End flashback_

Blood pooled next to Orochimaru. His body had been sliced clean through in two places by Sasuke. The boy's curse seal began to recede; the job was done and all that further use of the seal would do was to bring danger to him.

"Over already?" he asked. "That was far too easy." Suddenly he gasped, his eyes widening. "Ungh." Sasuke dropped, no longer able to remain standing upright.

"Finally feeling the effects, are we?" Orochimaru inquired sinisterly. "They humors of these white snakes can even taint the air with their paralyzing venom. I am undying! You are a whelp whose jutsu are still too weak to kill me!" he shouted. "Huhu, you're mine." Sasuke ground his teeth in fury. The Sannin's eye caught his own, causing the Sharingan orb to widen in surprise ever so slightly. They were no longer in Orochimaru's room in the lair. The two had been transported to some different world, where the walls and floor appeared to be made of what looked like bubbling flesh.

"Huh… What is this place?" Sasuke wondered aloud. The answer came from a growing column in front of him.

"An alternate dimension inside me and the place where I carry out the Soul Transfer Ritual." The Uchiha's eyes widened almost imperceptibly in shock as Orochimaru's tongue and eyes appeared on the column. "It's already started," he informed Sasuke. The Uchiha noted with shock the snakes that were suddenly growing out of his flesh, sliding out of his body to mingle with the gross material that made up the entirety of this dimension. He could see several other columns now. They all bore faces, each one in an expression that resembled the peacefulness of sleep. Sasuke knew the appearance was deceptive. They were the previous hosts of Orochimaru, killed by this same jutsu he was now trapped in. The flesh-like substance slid over his body, making its way onto his face. His Sharingan was still active.

_Flashback_

_Uchiha Itachi stood in front of Orochimaru, an expression of something akin to disgust upon his features. Both still wore the black and red cloaks of Akatsuki members._

_"I can't believe… you trapped me… in a paralyzing genjutsu…" the snake-like man managed to get out. His body trembled. "What powerful eyes… spectacular." Stone columns appeared, piercing his body and hindering his movement. Itachi preformed a few hand seals, moving at such a great speed that his movements would have been imperceptible even to the Sharingan. Orochimaru's left hand fell to the ground completely severed from his body. The Akatsuki ring on his pinky finger made a small clacking sound against the cobblestone walkway the two stood upon._

_"Ugh," he moaned in pain._

_"Orochimaru… all your jutsu are completely powerless against these eyes," Itachi informed him coldly, his Sharingan still active._

_End flashback_

Sasuke stared at him with the same emotionless Sharingan right now, unknowingly performing exactly the same jutsu. Columns had sprung up, inhibiting any movement on the part of the snake Sannin. _It's happening again!_ he mentally cried out.

"Hehehe, those eyes… Those eyes will be mine!" he shouted.

* * *

Kabuto stood next to the counter in this lair's laboratory, measuring out ingredients.

"The medicine's not enough anymore. At best, he could have lasted until tomorrow, but more than likely he'd need to do the Soul Transfer Ritual today. Still… I never would have guessed Sasuke-kun would be so quick to say 'yes,'" he mused aloud, smiling at the boy's fate. Kabuto exited the room, heading towards his master's chambers to see if the ritual had finished yet.

"Heh." _It doesn't matter, even Sasuke-kun won't be able to survive the ritual._ Sasuke had gotten very powerful over the last three years, Kabuto had seen his progress himself, but it would all be pointless. No matter how powerful the boy had grown, Orochimaru would always be one step ahead of him.

* * *

Kabuto arrived in the hallway outside of Orochimaru's room to see a pool of blood in the hall directly in front of it. He narrowed his eyes before moving. Quickly, he crouched down just beside the door, peering around the corner of the doorframe into the room beyond.

The body of Uchiha Sasuke stood triumphantly above the sliced up body of Orochimaru, his bangs hiding the expression of the victor from Kabuto. The medic's eyes widened as he noticed something else.

_The giant snake's molting. The Ritual's over already? What the hell happened? _Sasuke's head was bowed, his expression grave. He turned to face the medic, the sorrow in his eyes making him seem slightly tired and far older than his sixteen years.

"Kabuto?" The gray haired young man stood up as Sasuke advanced towards him. Sasuke walked past him, the grave expression still on his face. He had walked almost halfway down the chamber before Kabuto worked up the courage to address him.

"Which one… are you?" he asked. Sasuke's eyes closed briefly before he turned to face Kabuto.

"Which one do you think?" he replied, his signature smirk appearing to dispel the abnormally grave expression, making him look his age once again. Sasuke activated his Sharingan, intending to show Kabuto what had happened rather than tell him. (It was more fun to _show_ him; this way he got to watch Kabuto squirm.) Kabuto gasped in surprise to find himself transported to the alternate dimension in which he had been told the Soul Transfer Ritual took place. He gazed around in shock for a moment before his eyes found Sasuke and Orochimaru several meters away from him. It looked like he was to watch what exactly had occurred. Sasuke's stare was emotionless; Orochimaru's hungry, as the snake-man lunged toward the trapped boy, preparing to take control of his body. Sasuke's expression remained impassive as his curse seal began to spread, covering the undulating column of flesh that imprisoned him. Orochimaru's eyes widened in surprise; he should not be able to still control the curse seal!

The mark had now completely covered Sasuke and the flesh surrounding him. Two strands of the repulsive stuff shot forward from Sasuke, wrapping around Orochimaru and drawing the two closer. Kabuto gasped in shock.

"This-" Orochimaru began. The flesh had removed itself from Sasuke's body; he was now free! Instead, it had moved to attack its creator. "This can't be happening! I created this dimension! There's no way! There can't be! This is my-"

"Orochimaru… against my eyes none of your jutsu…" the Uchiha began. "Actually, you know the rest."

_This is… horrifying… Sasuke-kun's will… is actually eating away at the dimension…_ Kabuto mentally stammered in shock.

"Ugh! I refuse…" Orochimaru began. "I refuse to let this happen! I am Orochimaru! I am immortal! **I will not die here! Destined to discover the true meaning behind everything! Destined to take control of everything… in the world!"** The flesh of his own realm encased the Sannin, ending his rant, silencing his voice forever. Sasuke's eyes returned to normal as the jutsu ended.

"Orochimaru-sama… is… dead…" Kabuto stammered, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Wait… it's more like…"

"I've taken over," Sasuke declared. Kabuto's heart barely remembered to beat as Sasuke turned and walked away from him, heading down the corridor and out of Orochimaru's base. If he had his way, he would never set foot in one of those lairs again.

Sasuke stopped in his tracks. He never had thought of it before, but he really didn't have a place to go. He recalled some dream from when he was thirteen of killing Orochimaru and returning to Konoha once he was strong enough, but the idea seemed silly now. Why on earth had he wanted to return there? He could not for the life of him remember. It had had something to do with… blond hair… the color orange… a lot of pink… a headband with the Konoha symbol slashed through… his old teammates.

_No!_ he mentally screamed. _They were weak; they hindered my growth! Why on earth would I have wanted to return to them!? The pathetic village was just a shackle; I cast it aside when I left for Oto. What made me want to return there?_

_Because, _a second voice in his head said_, you wanted to see them again. He Remember? Naruto… Sakura… they meant the world to you. You were willing to die for them. That's the whole reason why you left: so that they wouldn't be hurt by Orochimaru on your behalf._

_The key word there is 'were.' I've changed. I'm no longer their little buddy from. I am so much stronger than I ever could have been had I stayed with them. Naruto and Sakura… mean nothing to me._

_If you really believe that… then you have truly lost yourself._

_Let me stay lost then. It's the only way for me to gain enough power to kill _him_._

* * *

**Quick poll: Who wants me to have Sasuke form Team Snake? If I do, it will once again be me copying what was written in the manga. (Unless people say they want the team formed, but they just want me to say it was identical to the manga and leave it at that.) I am asking this because they probably won't do very much in the overall plot, and I really, really cannot stand Karin. Please offer your opinions on this.**

**Author's Notes:**

**Note 1: Thanks are due to all of you who reviewed; I got more comments last time than on any other chapter so far! **

**Note 2: To the DragonBard: Thanks again for pointing that error in the last chapter out, I fixed it now.**

**Note 3: About how Sasuke's behaving at the end of this chapter, my theory is that the acceleration of the curse seal to the second state drew him closer to Orochimaru, making him forget or stop caring about what had happened in Konoha. He is under Orochimaru's power when the seal is active, and Sakon **_**did**_** mention something about losing himself forever if the seal ever reached its full state. But, since Orochimaru is now dead, its influence is decreasing, though it still retains dominance over his will. The "second voice" is what Sasuke really feels; the part of him that has escaped from the control of the curse seal. (My version of the Inner Sasuke I've seen appearing in some stories.) I wanted to show that while Sasuke isn't entirely evil, he isn't about to suddenly decide to return home. He **_**does **_**have his obsession with revenge to keep him away after all. But there is no way that he honestly changed as much as he claims to in the manga! So yeah, that is my theory. And it had better be true, because if he really is evil I will be very mad at Kishimoto for making him turn evil.**


	6. Eternal Struggles

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Six: Eternal Struggles

**Disclaimer: ****How many times do I have to say that I don't own Naruto? The series belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, who can draw much better than I ever could. I only own the plot of this story.**

**A/N: Part of the reason that this update took so long was that I was hoping for more results on the pole I had at the end of the last chapter. Because MusicLuva is **_**the only one**_** who responded to it, I'll be going with her vote: there will be no Team Hebi in this story. I just wanted to say what the results were so that everyone's clear on what will be happening. Thanks are owed to MusicLuva for being **_**the only person**_** to respond to that poll. (The other reason the update took so long is explained in the rant following this author's note.)**

**Okay, I just **_**have**_** to put this in here. Ignore this rant if you are not caught up on the manga chapters (through chapter 397). The last manga chapter put me in a state of semi-shock. Not only was Madara's speech surprising, Selena and I came up with that theory about Itachi at least a year ago. I dismissed it when Itachi tried to take Sasuke's eyes, but it turns out to be valid. So I was staring at my computer screen for a second, gasping like a fish, and then I started screaming that I was right! It was awesome and Itachi is not evil! Yay!! Sadly, I think that I may have to make him evil in this story. The plot was already decided before this revelation, and I'm not sure if I can change it in time. I'll try to though. Well, you'll all be in for a surprise of whether or not I managed to change it. (So will I…)**

* * *

Naruto stood in front of Tsunade's desk, fidgeting impatiently. The Hokage had summoned him here for "something urgent," but so far all he'd done was stand here and wait for her to say something already. It would be frustrating to anyone, but especially to Naruto, who had never been particularly good with the idea of "waiting."

"Tsunade baa-chan, why am I here?" he asked, some of his annoyance making its way into his voice. Being Naruto, he didn't bother with the fact that many would have considered the question rude; instead he just awaited an answer. Tsunade, who was by now far too used to this to let it affect her, sighed before replying.

"I'll tell you in a minute Naruto. Right now we have to wait for Sakura to arrive. She's just now finishing up her shift at the hospital, so she should be here any second now—"

"Sakura-chan's coming too?! What does Sakura-chan need to be here for? Are Kakashi-sensei and Yamato-taichou going to be here as well? They must not be, or else you would have said we were waiting for them too. So it's just me and Sakura-chan. Why would it just be me and Sakura-chan, that's not enough people for a squad for a ninja mission?" Naruto wondered aloud, pondering the point he made for a second before his face lit up with nervous excitement. "Tsunade-baa-chan does this have anything to do with… Sasuke?!" Naruto exclaimed, planting his hands on her desk in impatience as he all but shouted in her face. She stared coolly back at him, not about to be intimidated by a mere Genin (albeit, a Genin who many admitted was destined to surpass the Yondaime Hokage).

"Sit down Naruto," she ordered. He opened his mouth to protest before noting the serious expression on her face and deciding that it would be better to obey, and spare himself a painful beating. "I said it before: I'll tell you in a minute when Sakura gets here."

"But baa-chan," Naruto whined.

"I mean it, Naruto." The tone of finality in her voice left no room for further debate. Naruto promptly shut his mouth, choosing instead to pout like a child. There were really times when you had to wonder if Naruto really was sixteen years old, or if he was really the spirit of a five year old who had somehow been trapped in a teenager's body. However, Naruto displayed some of the common sense she would expect in a sixteen year old ninja, and decided not to push his luck with Tsunade, a.k.a. the woman who had _taught_ Sakura to use her now-famous inhuman strength. He waited (semi)patiently in front of her desk for several minutes, until the door to the office began to open. Naruto instantly perked up at the sound, waiting with nerves strung like guitar strings as the door appeared to open in slow motion (though it was actually moving at a fairly normal speed).

"Sakura-chan!" he exclaimed in joy as the door fully opened to reveal the pink haired kunoichi. She appeared slightly ruffled; obviously she had been called here in the middle of doing something and it was only the Hokage's description that the news was urgent that had gotten her here so quickly.

"Naruto," she addressed him far more calmly, nodding her head in his direction, "Tsunade-shishou." She inclined her head respectfully to her teacher, indicating that she was ready to hear whatever it was she had been called here about.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura…" Tsunade began in her usual forceful manner before suddenly trailing off, "the reason that I have called you here is to discuss some recent events, namely what happened a couple of days ago with… Sasuke." The effect that the name had on the two shinobi was obvious. Muscles that had been relaxed moments before suddenly tensed up; expressions that had been puzzled now held a mixture of anticipation and dread. Both hungered for news of their former comrade… yet at the same time they feared that news, for it could very well be information that Sasuke's body had indeed been taken over by Orochimaru and he was now dead. The next bit would be hard to get out. While Sasuke had not died, a fact at which Naruto and Sakura were sure to rejoice, the other news may well dampen that joy.

"As I'm sure you are aware of, nearly a week ago, the three year time limit expired, and Orochimaru was once again to perform his Soul Transfer Ritual, a jutsu which he uses to possess the bodies of others, erasing their former occupant's soul to enable his own to take its place—"

"We already know that!" Naruto cried indignantly (and very rudely). "Baa-chan, tell us about Sasuke!" While Sakura appeared annoyed by Naruto's rudeness, her expression displayed that she too desperately hungered for information about her former teammate. Tsunade decided to skip the formalities and just tell them.

"Uchiha Sasuke did not die." The effect of the news was instantaneous. Naruto jumped up in the air, shouting something about how he knew that Sasuke would never be taken down so easily, and that "that snake bastard" had gotten what was coming to him. Sakura began to tear up in relief, smiling as the pearly droplets pooled in her sparkling jade green eyes. She sobbed her thanks that Sasuke had not been lost to them, sounding happier than Tsunade had seen her in years. For a moment the blonde Hokage let herself imagine that that was all she had to tell them; that she did not have to shatter this happiness in a few moments as she told them the next bit of her news.

"When's he coming home baa-chan?" Naruto asked eagerly, his face lit up like a child's at Christmas. "When's Sasuke coming back?" Her heart almost broke at having to shatter that happiness, knowing that she had given him hope and then cruelly snatched it away.

"He's not coming back," she informed them quietly.

"Eh, what do you mean Tsunade-baa-chan?" Tsunade bit her lip, damning her duty as Hokage that made her have to be the one to tell them this.

"Sasuke isn't returning to the village. Our spies confirmed that while Orochimaru is indeed dead, he displayed no signs of intending to return to Konoha. It appears that he is intending to remain a missing-nin for a time, to pursue Uchiha Itachi on his own. I'm sorry, Naruto, Sakura, but he's not coming home."

_He's not coming home, he's not coming home, he's not coming home…_ Those words repeated themselves endlessly in Sakura's skull. She could feel the fragile pieces of her heart beginning to shatter again, just as they had when he had left the first time. Even after all Sasuke had done to her, he was the only one who had ever possessed such a firm hold on her heart that he could shatter it in a moment, leaving her a broken shell of a person.

"Tsunade-sama," she managed to choke out around the lump that had suddenly sprung up in her throat. Her mentor nodded.

"You may leave now Sakura."

"Arigatou," she managed to gasp out before fleeing, sobs already beginning to shake her slight frame. Naruto moved to follow her, desire to help plain on his face, when he was stopped by Tsunade's grip on his arm.

"Don't, Naruto," she instructed him, "Sakura needs some time to herself right now. She needs to be allowed to cry in peace for a while so that she has a chance to let the pain out, rather than keeping it bottled up. You know that she'd never allow herself to cry if you were there. She cares too much about you to show her own pain if she thinks that doing so will hurt you. Give her a chance to let some of that out before you try to cheer up." He nodded to show that he understood. He had seen what Sakura was like after Sasuke had originally left the village over three years ago. While she had been in obvious emotional suffering, she had refused to cry in his presence, saying that to do so would be to admit that she had given up hope, something that they must not do. That hadn't changed the fact that, shortly after he returned from his training journey with Jiraiya, it had become a habit to go collect her for training in the mornings, only to find her lying on her bed, fully clothed, their old team photo clutched in her hands and dried tears decorating both her face and the glass. She had apologized many times for it, but to Naruto it was not something she should apologize for. Rather, it was something to add to his list of reasons why he would beat out of Sasuke should he ever catch up with said Uchiha. (And then he would promptly return Sasuke to the village, where Sakura would heal him, then beat him up again herself. After the two of them were satisfied that he had indeed paid the price for leaving the village, the three former members of Team Seven would begin to reawaken their old bonds from their Genin days, hopefully managing to return to the happy family they had been back then, before things had gone so horribly wrong. Or at least, that was the plan in Naruto's mind.)

"See you baa-chan," he said, his usual goofy grin appearing on his face.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Don't worry; I'm not going to follow Sakura-chan. I'm going to Ichiraku." Tsunade sighed in amusement. Naruto's obsession with ramen could only be rivaled by his obsession with becoming Hokage someday or, during the last few years, with returning Sasuke to Konohagakure. Although, she sensed that at the moment his need for ramen was more a need for something to cheer him up, rather like her constant need for sake. His grin seemed less like genuine good cheer and more like an attempt to mask his true feelings, just as it had been at the Konoha Hospital all those years ago after the failed Sasuke Retrieval mission.

_You're still trying to be strong, aren't you Naruto? _she mused. _You're trying to prove that Sasuke was wrong; that you're strong enough to save him. You just never give up, do you? It's what makes you Naruto. It's what keeps you fighting long after everyone else has abandoned hope. It's what makes you the person who will someday become the Sixth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village._

* * *

Sakura dashed out of the building as fast as her legs could carry her, ragged sobs tearing from her throat as she fled. She knew that if she had stayed, Naruto and Tsunade would have held her tightly, attempting to soothe her until she stopped crying. They would have been kind and understanding, something that she desperately needed right now. But she couldn't do that to them. They'd already had to do that more than enough for her after Sasuke left them; it was unfair to make them do it again. She'd vowed to change herself, to become stronger so that she could help Naruto to save Sasuke. She could never do that if she insisted upon being so weak, insisted upon needing to be comforted every time she was faced with harsh news. She was a kunoichi damn it; she was supposed to be able to take such news in her stride!

_It's not like he ever loved you anyway,_ a voice in her head informed her. _Why can't you accept that? You were just wasting your time and making a fool out of yourself when you chased after him during your Genin days. You've become stronger than that now Sakura. You need to accept that Sasuke never could love you, and move on. Settle for being his friend, like Naruto is. _They_ actually had a bond back when Sasuke was here, because Naruto didn't try to push himself into a role that he could never have._

_Content yourself with that role as a friend. He'll let you near him that way, and it will be worth it. It's better to have him at least care about you that much, rather than trying to make him feel something for you that he never will._

_If you really loved him… you'd be able to let him go._

* * *

Naruto stared blankly into the full bowel of ramen in front of him, a somber expression on his usually cheerful face.

"Hey, Naruto, are you okay?" Teuchi, the owner of the stand, asked him. "You haven't even touched your ramen yet, and normally you're on your second bowl by now." Naruto's miserable appearance dissolved as he grinned.

"Heh, I'm fine!" he reached for his chopsticks, preparing to dig into his ramen. "Itadakimasu!" The prayer was followed by loud slurping as Uzumaki Naruto did what Uzumaki Naruto did best: eat more ramen then most people would think physically possible without making himself throw up. For a few solid minutes he sat there, slurping up noodles in a content manner, moving on to his second and third bowl, before the arrival of another customer distracted him.

"I'll have one miso ramen please," a small voice said. The owner immediately began to prepare their order while Naruto turned to face them.

"Hinata-chan? Since when do you come here?" Hinata bit her lip, barely stopping herself from fiddling with her fingers. _I came here because I saw you here, Naruto-kun._ She could never say that aloud though. Naruto would probably just look at her like she was insane, and never speak to her again if he put two and two together and figured out that she was in love with him. It hurt, but she would rather be just friends with Naruto than have him avoid her because he knew how she felt about him. Instead, she settled for a little white lie; it was dishonest but definitely safer.

"I-I was just passing by and th-thought that I would get some ramen Naruto-kun," she stuttered, thankful that while her stutter had returned, her face had thankfully retained its usual pale hue, instead of turning the alarming shade of red that it typically became when she was faced with Naruto's presence. Naruto apparently did not notice her stutter, or had gotten used to it by now, for he just nodded.

"Here's your ramen," the owner told her. Hinata reached for it gratefully, taking care not to burn herself on the hot bowl. She broke apart her chopsticks.

"Itadakimasu," she prayed softly before digging in. The two of them ate their meals without conversing for a few minutes before Naruto decided to initiate another conversation.

"Hey, Hinata-chan," he addressed her. Hinata looked up from her meal, ready to listen to anything he had to say. "A while ago Sakura-chan said that you had feelings for me. What did she mean by that?" Only Naruto would ask something so awkward and plainly obvious and mean it as a genuine question. Hinata responded in the way that every girl responds when the man of her dreams asks if she likes him. She promptly fainted. "Oi, Hinata-chan! Why'd you faint?"

Teuchi could not help but shake his head in exasperation at Naruto's continued thick headedness. You'd think that by now the blond would have figured out the Hyuuga's crush on him, and yet he remained oblivious. Sometimes you really had to wonder about that kid's intelligence.

"Hinata-chan, please wake up! Old man Hiashi's gonna kill me if I bring you home like this again!"

As he bent over her still form, intending to drag her home even though Neji or Hiashi would probably kill him for causing Hinata to fall unconscious _again_, he couldn't help but notice… Hinata looked pretty cute right now. She looked so attractive and womanly and… wait, what was he thinking? Naruto mentally hit himself; he could not believe that he just thought that! It was only expected that, as a teenage boy, he start thinking… different things about the various females in his age group, particularly those females with rather… mature bodies, but it became inexcusable when he started to think that about Hinata. Hinata was a sweet, innocent little girl; it was wrong to think such vile things about her. Plus, he got the distinct impression that she already had her eye on someone. Naruto had already liked one girl who had previously promised her heart to someone else; he had no desire to repeat that experience. Still, some rebellious, hormone driven part of his brain couldn't help but notice that Hinata _was_ a very nice-looking girl.

"Damn hormones," he muttered as he gently wrapped her arm about his neck and lifted her up, trying not to notice how nice her curves felt nestled so closely against his body. With a sigh of exasperation at his foolishness, he began what felt like it would be a _very_ long walk to the Hyuuga Compound, trying not to picture the reactions that some of the older male Hyuuga were sure to have when they found Hinata like this.

* * *

"_If you are by my side, I'll make sure you never regret it. I will make every day more enjoyable, and you will be happy! There's nothing I wouldn't do for you!"_

_"It's true that I don't know anything about parents or siblings, but, when I'm with Iruka-sensei, I wonder… if this is what it's like having a dad… and when I'm with you… I wonder if this is what it's like having a brother."_ Voices drifted around his head, voices from his past, telling him things that he thought he had long forgotten… things he wished he could have forgotten.

_Naruto… Sakura… _An expression of longing flitted across Sasuke's features for the briefest instant, before it was replaced by a snarl of fury. _Why are you two still in my head?! I left you and the entire village of Konohagakure behind years ago! I can't return there! Not now, not when I'm so close! They'd just keep me from accomplishing my revenge, from my purpose, my reason for existence! Why is it that even though I know that, I still can't get the two of you out of my head? Why can't I leave you behind?!_

_Because,_ the second voice began softly…_ you don't really want to. You still love them…_

_…you still love _her_._

* * *

Sakura hiccupped one last time. She had managed to make it to her house, collapsing on her bed to cry while clutching the old Team Seven photo. Now, her tears had finally run dry, and she had accepted the truth she had reached while running her. When… _if_ Sasuke ever returned to them, she would behave as his friend, nothing more. She longed dearly for him to return her feelings, but it seemed that that was never to be the case. It was better this way. If Sasuke was just able to tolerate her presence, to begin to feel something more for her than the casual disdain that had been all there was to their previous relationship, then that would be enough. Sakura could be content with that; to know that her love was unrequited, but that she was allowed to help him, to care for him, to just be near him. She had told him when he left that she was willing to do anything for him. Now, she finally knew what she could do. She could be there for him… as a friend.

_No matter what, I'll always love you…_

_…If I have to let you go for you to return some of my feelings, then I will. I would do anything for you to accept me, Sasuke-kun. My one and only love._

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

**Note 1: Okay, this chapter was a little shorter than the others. This is because it was sort of a filler chapter; I just wanted to inform Naruto and Sakura that Sasuke survived, and then go into some emotional detail. I hope that the next chapter will be longer. I'm not making any promises though, because I'm not sure where I'm going to end it. We'll see how that works out, but if the next chapter isn't pretty longish (for my writing, I'm not entirely sure what everyone here defines as 'long') then the one after that will probably be pretty long. You'll just have wait to see what I planned that will make it so much longer. (insert evil laughter)**

**Note 2: The last bit at the end was really hard to write! I was so annoyed, because random emotional SasuXSaku pieces normally come so easily to me, and I just couldn't write this! It didn't help it at all that I was reading some really well written SasuXSaku pieces by other authors while I waited for my ideas to solidify. Sorry if that bit isn't up to par, but I just couldn't get it to come out sounding right!**


	7. Eternal Bewilderment

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Seven: Eternal Bewilderment

**Disclaimer: ****I knew Itachi was good! My theories about Naruto are coming true! (Next up must be the one that Sasuke and Sakura are **_**destined**_** to be together.) However, I still sadly still don't own Naruto. (Sadly for me—you all should be grateful; otherwise it would stop being the series we have all fallen in love with and turn into a collection of SasukeXSakura scenes and lose anything that even resembles a plot.) I still own the plot to this story though, which is at least something.**

**A/N: Yay, Sasuke finally gets to appear for an extended period of time in this chapter! (I didn't count it as actually appearing two chapters ago, because that was really just a copy of the manga, which I don't think should really count.) He's my favorite character (even if he is a jerk for leaving), so it was really annoying that I couldn't write much of anything about him until now. But, he will be making a lot more appearances very soon, after… well, I'm not allowed to tell you that yet. (insert evil laughter)**

* * *

Sasuke was in a rather foul mood by the time he stopped to rest for the night. All day, thoughts of Naruto and Sakura had plagued him, memories of their time together as Genin ninja of Konohagakure. As if that wasn't annoying enough, that little voice in his head had refused to go away, continuously telling him that his furious rejections of anything to do with his old home were nothing more than denials of a truth he was unwilling to face.

He had chosen, upon ridding himself of Orochimaru over a week ago, to wander the lands, questioning travelers for any information that might lead him to Itachi. He would work alone; there would be no one else around to hinder his progress this time. This time, he intended to eliminate that damn older brother of his, once and for all.

The inn at which he chose to spend the night was a nothing special, neither too shabby nor overly luxurious. While Sasuke could afford to stay anywhere he pleased thanks to his massive inheritance as sole heir to the Uchiha clan, he preferred not to spend all his money on accommodations, and to instead save it for the future. Actually, he preferred not to spend it at all, for having access to such wealth at his age only served to further remind him of what Itachi had done.

The hotel appeared to be just opening its doors for tonight's crowd when Sasuke arrived. He noted with satisfaction that there was a bar located on the first floor as well as the check-in desk. Sasuke did not intend to drink, but Orochimaru had taught him some information gathering techniques during the three years he stayed with the Sannin, much like Jiraiya had with Naruto (although not for gathering "information" in the sense that Jiraiya used it—neither the Snake Sannin nor his apprentice had any interest in peeping on girls in a hot spring). The first thing Sasuke had learned about searching for information was: do not look like a creepy evil snake guy with disturbing habits involving his tongue if you want to learn anything. As specific as that sounded, it had not taken very long for Sasuke's quick perceptions to notice that Orochimaru looking like Orochimaru was useless at collecting information due to the simple fact that most people were too terrified by his presence to retain the power of speech. (Though that wasn't really a tribute to his perceptiveness, as people far less observant than the Uchiha probably would have been able to notice that. Heck, _Naruto_ probably would have been able to notice it, and Sasuke held his former teammate's observational skills in very low regard.) The second, more applicable, thing he'd learned was that if you wanted information, you had to go to the sources: gambling halls, restaurants, bars, in short, places where people went with the intent to socialize.

Sasuke booked a single room for the night, only briefly glancing at it as he dropped off his pack there before returning to the bar, seating himself at one of the tall stools in front of the counter. He would stick to his previous intention of not drinking tonight, for alcohol dulled the senses, but he would order a small meal, just so that the owner didn't get annoyed with him for sitting there without buying anything. Dim overhead lights illuminated the bar, casting a murky light about the room. The sickly sweet scent of alcohol filled the place, causing Sasuke to wrinkle his nose slightly in distaste. He sat there quietly for a while, picking at his food, waiting for the regular inhabitants of the town to decide to approach him. One thing he had noticed during his three years of nomadic existence as he traveled between Orochimaru's many bases was that, on the rare occasions that he was allowed outside of the lair, the locals could immediately pick him out as _not one of them_. This was a small, isolated town; the people here would be hungry for any news of far-off places that could be provided by travelers. They should be drawn to him like bees to honey. It had happened that way in every other town he'd stopped in this past week or so.

Sasuke glared at the wooden counter in front of him. Well, maybe they had been drawn to him, but it had not been at all productive towards his ends. The first night he had definitely had at least three guys hitting on him, something which had disturbed the Uchiha more than a little bit, and he was sure that at least one of them had been completely sober. If there was one thing Sasuke found more annoying than his old group of fangirls from Konohagakure, it was fan_boys_. Just because he was sixteen years old and he had never kissed a girl or even had a proper conversation with one (apart from his harsh speech to Sakura on the night that he left), it didn't mean that he was gay!

Even the people who had come to him _without_ the intent of asking him for a date had been useless. Admittedly he couldn't blame them for not knowing who Uchiha Itachi and the rest of the Akatsuki were unless they were a ninja, so it wasn't entirely their fault that they hadn't been able to give him the information he sought, but surely they knew that if he was interested in shinobi matters he would not be interested in hearing stories about their children, or their grandchildren, or their cousins, or their nieces and nephews, or the rest of their extended family. (Especially since he was Uchiha Sasuke, the man who had been forced to helplessly watch as his elder brother murdered _his_ extended family. Ever since _that day_, families had been a very touchy subject for the young Uchiha.) Several times it had only been through the exercise of incredible self-restraint that Sasuke kept from performing Chidori or the Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu on them.

When the first guy approached him with breath that smelled strongly of alcohol (Sasuke could tell because the man was exhaling rather loudly through his mouth) and promptly began hitting on him (again), Sasuke had to remind himself that he was an avenger, not a murderer; killing innocent people was wrong, especially if they were only being so annoying because they were drunk…

"Hey," the guy said, nudging Sasuke with his elbow, "why don't you come with me back to my room? We could close all the blinds and—" Screw ethics, this guy was dead! He was not gay, damn it! Sasuke's eyes changed from their usual onyx into the blood red orbs of the Sharingan, the three comma-like markings in each eye swirling menacingly. The drunk appeared not to notice the danger he was in, instead continuing to grin suggestively at him. It would not take but a second for him to perform the hand seals for Chidori, he just had to summon enough chakra…

"Jirou!" a man called, striding purposefully towards Sasuke and the drunk. He lifted the intoxicated man—Jirou—up by the collar of his shirt, setting him down none too gently in a heap upon the floor a couple of feet away from Sasuke. The second man took a minute or so to glare at him, during which time the Uchiha deactivated his Sharingan, suddenly grateful for the dim lighting which made it highly unlikely that either of the other two men had noticed.

His rescuer turned to face him, an apologetic look upon his face.

"I apologize for Jirou's conduct. He does not think clearly when he is intoxicated. I assure you, normally he is an admirable man, but when it comes to drinking…"

"'m not drunk aniki!" Jirou protested from his spot on the floor. "I haven' been drinkin' at all tonight, 'm sober!" he slurred, obviously drunk. The second man eyed him with distaste for a second before returning his attention to Sasuke.

"Again, I apologize for him," he stated blandly.

"He called you aniki…?" Sasuke prompted.

"Yes, Jirou is my younger brother. So, you see, I have a family obligation to see to it that he doesn't get hurt through offending people while he's like this."

"Aa," Sasuke replied, not really knowing what else to say. He didn't particularly care for the man's story, but if he could keep him talking maybe he could get information about Akatsuki, or find out that they weren't here and move on to the next town tomorrow.

"Forgive me," the man said, "I have not yet introduced myself. I am Takeshi, heir to the Morikawa clan. Jirou, as I have already said, is my younger brother, the second son." Sasuke nodded, preparing to give out the fake name he had devised for himself long ago in reply.

"I am Sugiyama Yoshiru," he lied, feeling no remorse for doing so. "Your name means 'warrior.' Is that indicative of anything?"

"No, it isn't. My father taught me to use a katana when I was younger, but I never displayed any great love of it. I always found it so pointless to kill others; I had no motivation to train, and so my father ended the lessons. Since then I have never touched a weapon, though I am still treated as a warrior by the citizens of my village. We are miles away from Amegakure no Sato, the shinobi village of this country. Anyone who can use a weapon, even someone with as little experience as I, is treated as a warrior in this village." It suddenly required a great degree of effort for Sasuke to keep his expression only mildly interested. His heart hammered against his ribs and his palms broke out in a light sweat. This man, Takeshi, appeared to be the answer to his prayers. Everything he was saying, all of it conveyed one message to the avenger: this man would know of Itachi. He was almost sure of it. All that remained was for him to approach the subject cautiously, so that Takeshi did not sense anything amiss. By the end of the night, if all went well, he would know where Itachi was.

"I heard something a while back about Amegakure," the avenger began, his long years of masking his emotions finally coming in handy as he managed to pass off his excitement as mild interest. "A traveling merchant told me that the whole of Ame no Kuni **(the Country of Rain)** was in the middle of a civil war, and yet the countryside I have traveled through has been utterly peaceful." The bit about the merchant was a lie, it had been Orochimaru who told him of the situation in the Rain Country, but apart from that his question had been genuine. He had noticed the absence of the telltale signs of battle from the moment he had entered this country. Takeshi appeared to be the first person who might know something about why that was.

"The civil war… has been resolved. Many months ago, the rebel leader, Pein-sama, launched an attack on the former ruler of this country, defeating him in combat. Everyone related to previous government has been killed, down to the very last woman and child. They have been replaced by Pein-sama and his followers." Pein. The name rung a bell in Sasuke's mind. While Orochimaru had only said it to him once, he had stashed the knowledge in his mind, knowing it would eventually prove useful. Pein. The old snake had all but spat the name, hating any reminders of his days in _that organization_. Pein. According to Orochimaru, he was the man who _controlled_ the Akatsuki. Powerful shinobi such as Itachi and that shark, Kisame, had sworn fealty to him. (Not that any oath of fealty Itachi made was likely to be of any real value. Look what happened to the _last_ group to whom he had supposedly given his undying loyalty.)

However, while Uchiha Sasuke would definitely know who Pein was, it was equally certain that Sugiyama Yoshirou wouldn't. And it was as Sugiyama Yoshirou that Sasuke addressed Takeshi.

"Pein…" he trailed off, acting to the best of his (considerable) ability and hating every moment of it. However, if he could fool Naruto and Sakura into believing that he didn't care about them, then he could easily fool Takeshi now.

…Wait. Fool Naruto and Sakura? Since when was he fooling them? He had been perfectly honest with Naruto when they met up a month ago: he had changed; the person he had been in Konoha no longer existed. Things could never return to being the way they had been. They needed to accept that and move on… all three of them did. Wishing things could have gone differently wouldn't change the past. He needed to focus on the here and now, the things which _could_ be changed. He had a performance to give if he wanted to find out where Itachi was.

"I've heard that name before," he informed Takeshi, apparently deep in thought as to the identity of Pein.

"You may very well have heard of him before. Pein-sama is God, come to save the world in its time of peril." _He sounds like one of those brain-washed Sound goons when they describe Orochimaru,_ Sasuke thought, almost amused by the stupidity of the man in front of him if he honestly believed that this "Pein" was God. "He has assembled an organization of the world's most powerful shinobi, enlisting their aid in his protection of us all! They are called the Akatsuki, daybreak, in honor of the new era of peace they will bring to our troubled world. Their exploits are known the world over! You may very well have heard of Pein-sama in a description of their great deeds." Any previous respect or gratefulness Sasuke had felt for this man for rescuing him from Jirou evaporated with the conclusion of his speech of praises. While it surely must have seemed like quite a feat for Pein to defeat the former leader of Amegakure, the shinobi Hanzo, who according to Orochimaru had been the one to christen his team with the title of "Sannin" after defeating they and their allies in combat, to believe that the man was really a god was going too far. However, believe it Takeshi did, and alienating his source of information was not something that Sasuke was eager to do. No matter how stupid the man's beliefs were, he believed in them, and so Sasuke would have to at least appear to as well if he wanted to get anything further out of this conversation.

"Aa," he grunted in reply, putting considerably more emotion than usual into the monosyllable response, making it an obvious noise of assent instead of the usual noncommittal sound, "that was where I probably heard of Pein-sama." It almost killed him to add the respectful suffix to Pein's name, sullying his Uchiha pride by implying his inferiority to another even in passing. "I heard someone mention one of the Akatsuki a couple of months ago when I was traveling through the Land of Wind. Apparently they recently kidnapped their leader, the Kazekage, and killed one of their elders in the process."

"Oh, yes. Nearly everyone in the country has heard of that. It's hard not to really, when it's such an important part of Pein-sama's plan."

"How can the Akatsuki be as noble as you say if their organization is comprised of kidnappers and murderers?" Sasuke pretended to ask, trying to keep his personal bitterness toward his brother's organization out of his voice. Takeshi merely shook his head in response to the question, his manner that of an adult explaining to a particularly dense child why two plus two equals four.

"They are not murders," he stated. "They may have killed, but it was for just reasons. If you kill a leech that is draining you of your blood, have you done wrong? No, you haven't. You have rid yourself of a parasite that was doing you harm; there is nothing wrong with that. The situation with Suna's Kazekage was the same.

"Yoshirou, not all things in this world are benevolent in nature. You can't live in it and fail to realize that. But there are some things that are crueler than others, to the point that they no longer deserve to possess a place in this fair world. The darkest of these many things are the nine bijuu, embodiments of destruction and power. Some… _humans_, and I hesitate to even grant them that title anymore, have formed special bonds with these demons. Their proper name is Jinchuuriki, power of human sacrifice, and a fitting name it is. In exchange for some measure of control over the powers of the bijuu, the Jinchuuriki must sacrifice their humanity, becoming a new species, a monster than can not create, only destroy. In some ways, they are even worse than the demons they contain.

"That was what happened to Suna's Kazekage. He was born with the Ichibi, the one tailed bijuu, sealed within him. Though one could argue that an accident of his birth was not his fault, what he chose to do with that power certainly was. By the time he was twelve, only a Genin, every person in that village knew and feared him. The Ichibi granted him control of the sands of the very desert in which he dwelled, making him nearly unstoppable. Some say that the only reason he was even granted the title of Kazekage was to placate him, because the village elders were too afraid to say no. You see, anyone who opposed him died a horrible death; crushed by the sands of the very desert they called their home." Takeshi paused here to let the information sink in. For his part, Sasuke tried to look suitably awed; instead of displaying his annoyance that he had to continue feigning ignorance to matters he had learned in childhood. Thankfully, Takeshi chose to continue before the Uchiha was given too much time to dwell on his annoyance.

"Pein-sama did a great service to the citizens of Sunagakure no Sato when he rid them of that monster, though by that time they were too far in awe of his power to see it. The power of a Jinchuuriki is mighty to behold, and something no village would want to lose, particularly when they labor under the delusion that the vessel of that power is under their control. They called upon a debt owed to them by Konohagakure to convince some of the Leaf's ninja to rescue the Kazekage. The elder you mentioned earlier accompanied those ninja. Foolishly, she sacrificed herself to save the Jinchuuriki. Her death was not intended, and Pein-sama regrets it dearly." Sasuke had to admit one thing: this Pein had to be as good as, if not better than, Orochimaru at feeding people utter crap and making them genuinely believe that it was fact.

"You mentioned that the Jinchuuriki were a part of Pein-sama's plan…?" Sasuke prompted. Takeshi nodded.

"As you can imagine, no human could have that kind of power in their control without abusing it in some way. That is why it must be Pein-sama who controls the power of the bijuu. As a god, he is immune to the faults of mortals; it is only he who can be trusted to not misuse that immense power. It is the duty of Pein-sama to remove the bijuu from the Jinchuuriki, killing them if it is necessary, in order to seal the power of the demons away, so that only he may utilize it at all. To do so would be to rid the world of a great threat, thus bringing us closer to peace. If the Jinchuuriki must be killed to do so, then they shall die." Sasuke could have sworn that at that moment, he heard an anguished little voice shouting out the name of the only other Jinchuuriki he knew.

_"Narutooooooo!"_ Takeshi appeared to have heard nothing, and Sasuke knew that the voice was loud enough for the entire bar to have been aware of, so he must have only imagined it. After all, it wasn't as though he cared what happened to the blond dobe in the slightest. The voice definitely had not sounded anything like his, definitely not.

"I have heard of another Jinchuuriki," he continued calmly. "It resided in Konohagakure, the place you mentioned as having come to Suna's aid. Would Pein-sama be intent on capturing this one as well?"

"Yes, he would." Sasuke swallowed, wondering why his mouth had suddenly gone so dry and why it had become so hard to breathe properly.

"When?" he demanded sharply, not caring how suspicious the question sounded.

"I suppose there's no harm in telling you; it's common enough knowledge now. At this very moment, Pein-sama and the rest of the Akatsuki are preparing an assault on Konohagakure no Sato. They have previously tried to capture this Jinchuuriki, but were thwarted by some of his fellow Konoha-nin. It appears that the village will not renounce the Kyuubi no Jinchuuriki without a fight. No, I'd say that this time, it's the end for Konohagakure."

* * *

The dawn light began to filter over the morning horizon, warming the earth and banishing the darkness of night. The pale fingers of sunlight touched on the dark hair of the Uchiha, bringing out the navy blue highlights in his otherwise midnight black locks. His face was haggard from exhaustion. He had had little time to stop and rest and almost no sleep for the last two days, ever since his meeting with Takeshi in the Land of Rain.

The ill-named man just finished telling him that Konoha was sure to be destroyed when Sasuke lifted him up by his shirt collar, demanding to know the quickest route to the Hidden Leaf Village from here, all traces of apathy towards his former home gone from his manner. Once Takeshi had told him what he needed to know, he deposited the man on the ground, walking away from him without so much as a simple 'thank you.' All said, it had been slightly more polite than the farewell he had given Sakura on the night he left the village, that comparison based solely on the fact that this time there were no tears on the part of the other involved party. He had only stopped by his room to get his bags before setting off into the night, heading in the direction of the place that he tried so hard to leave behind those three long years ago.

_That man,_ he thought furiously, putting every ounce of venom he possessed into those two simple words. _That man will not be allowed to go free. Not this time. Konoha is weak; it would fall before him within a couple of days. I couldn't care less about the fate of the village, but _that man_ cannot be allowed to leave alive. If I have to work with those weaklings of the village in order to grasp this opportunity to defeat him, then I will. I am willing to do anything, as long as _that man_ is brought down in the process. He cannot be allowed to live. For the sake of my honor as an Uchiha, I have to kill him, now!_

Unbidden, the faces of two of the shinobi of Konoha appeared in his mind. The sea green eyes of the first one sparkled with a depth of love that was almost frightening, her cherry blossom pink locks falling neatly to frame a rather pretty face. Six whisker marks adorned the cheeks of the second face, looking rather silly yet somehow fitting. Sapphire eyes sparkled with a mixture of mirth and happiness, giving off an air of youthful innocence. The head was topped off with spiky blond hair bound by a hitai-ate bearing the Konoha village symbol.

_Naruto and Sakura_, Sasuke identified them in his mind, _they were still waiting for me, even after all these years. _For a moment his expression turned almost tender, as though he were feeling some affection or regret for what he had done to his former teammates. After only a moment though, it was gone, replaced by Sasuke's famous Uchiha Glare.

_No matter how much they have done for me, it all means nothing. All that matters is that I live to defeat_ him_. I am an avenger. What that means is that I am willing to sacrifice my own life and my own happiness for the sake of my clan. I cannot afford feelings, bonds, warmth, or love. My duty to my clan is the most important thing. It is what I must take care of before I let anything else get in the way. Naruto and Sakura mean nothing to me and they can not mean anything more than that until _he_ is dead. That is the way things are._

* * *

Hinata leapt through the trees, following Kiba, the now much larger Akamaru, and Shino as they patrolled the forest surrounding Konoha. Upon revealing to the rest of the village that the Akatsuki had made plans to attack Konoha, Tsunade had ordered daily patrols comprised of no less than three shinobi to survey the surrounding area in the hope of giving the village some warning when the attack finally came. They'd been at it for over two weeks with no sign of the criminal organization, but no one had even suggested ceasing their surveillance. To do so could spell the capture of Naruto, and quite probably the end of the Hidden Leaf Village soon after.

"Hinata," Shino addressed her, drawing back so that he was even with the shy kunoichi, "my bugs say that they can sense a person ahead of us on the path leading to the village. Activate your Byakugan to see if you can tell who it is."

"A-alright Shino-kun," she stuttered, a little uncertain now that she was being given a task to perform. While the Hyuuga girl had managed to improve herself greatly over the last three and a half years, Hinata still possessed a very low opinion of herself, courtesy of the rest of the Hyuuga clan. They appeared to be oblivious to the growth of their heiress, only able to note that she still fell far behind Neji in terms of talent.

"Byakugan!" The veins beside her eyes bulged, and her pupils became somewhat visible, indicating that Hinata had indeed activated her kekkei genkai.

"What do you see Hinata?" Kiba asked, turning back to face the Hyuuga girl.

"We're too far away, so I can't clearly make out any physical characteristics, but judging by their chakra, they're obviously a shinobi."

"Do you think it's the Akatsuki?" Shino asked her. Hinata shook her head.

"No. They're very powerful, but this person doesn't have any ill intent clouding their chakra signature. I don't think they want to attack the village."

"If they're not here to attack, then we should go see what it is they _do_ want," Kiba said, made eager by the potential for a challenge offered by the unknown other. "What'd you think, Akamaru?"

"Arf!" the large, white dog barked, obviously agreeing with his master.

"Alright, let's go!" the Inuzuka cried, charging forward into the forest. Shino rolled his eyes behind his sunglasses, annoyed by his teammate's inability to think things through before acting. Sometimes Kiba could be almost as immature as Naruto.

"Sh-should we follow him Shino-kun?" Hinata asked. The Aburame nodded, and the two remaining trackers dashed off after Kiba.

It took less than a minute for them to catch up to him. The canine-loving boy had perched in a tree overlooking the path with his dog, waiting for the mysterious ninja to pass by. Shino and Hinata hid themselves beside him, making not a sound as the four waited for the approach of their quarry.

After five minutes, Kiba sniffed the air.

"Do you smell that Akamaru?" The dog whined softly in agreement.

"What?" inquired Shino.

"The scent of this person, it's familiar. It's been a while since I've smelled it last, but I think I can recognize it. It smells like it's— " He cut off as the person's chakra flared, strong enough for all three of them to get a distinct impression of it, erasing all doubts as to who the mysterious solo-nin was.

Without any need of a verbal signal, the three shinobi and ninja hound leapt down onto the path in front of the traveler, halting the progress of the other ninja. He chose to take a step back, concealing his face in the shadows, though the exercise was obviously futile as his sudden chakra flair a moment ago had identified him to any shinobi in the area.

"What are you doing here?" Shino asked, drawing his kunai in preparation for an attack.

"I'm not here to attack the village, if that's what you think," replied the other.

"Cut the bullshit. You know you're an enemy of the village," Kiba snarled. "Why have you come back here?"

"We share a common enemy. I'm sure all of you know which organization my brother chose to join after he left the village."

"And you think we'll just accept you back here, after what you did?"

"You need allies. I'm offering to help you, in exchange for the privilege of being allowed to fight Uchiha Itachi when the Akatsuki attack. After he is dead, you may do whatever you like with me."

"And you're willing to stick to those terms?" Shino asked, lowering his weapon slightly as it became apparent that the other possessed no desire to fight them.

"Aa."

"Very well, follow us; we'll take you to Tsunade-sama. It's likely that she'll allow you to finalize that bargain. In the mean time, you'll be regarded as our prisoner. Does that sound fair enough to you?" The man stepped out of the shadows, showing them his face for the first time, "Uchiha Sasuke."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**1. For anyone who is interested, here are the meanings to the names I used:**

**Jirou: second son**

**Takeshi: warrior**

**Yoshiru: righteous son (So typical of Sasuke.)**

**Just so everyone's clear, I looked the meanings up on an entomology website. I don't actually know anything about Japanese names. I just felt I should say that so no one forms the mistaken impression that I actually know this stuff. In regards to the made-up names of clans, Sugiyama was the surname of the voice actor (seiyuu) for Sasuke in the Japanese anime, and Morikawa was the surname of the seiyuu for Kimimaro. I looked that up on the list of voice actors on Wikipedia.**

**2. Takeshi really isn't supposed to be a bad person. In the first arc of the anime filler saga, we met a group of ninja from the Land of Rice Fields known as the Fuuma clan (of which Pein is apparently a part, though I think it's a different Fuuma clan). They were not bad people, but several of them worked for Orochimaru. The reason that they did so was because he promised to return their clan to its former glory. He offered them a way out of their misery, and so they genuinely respected him for it. That's what I was trying to show Takeshi feeling. Sasuke just automatically forms a low opinion of him because a) he knows all the bad things about Orochimaru and by the end of their three years together I do not think he retained any respect for the Sannin b) he's Uchiha Sasuke and seriously has a habit of doing things like that.**

**3. YEAH, I FINALLY MADE SASUKE COME BACK!! You see, I have an utter obsession with the idea that Sasuke will someday return to the village and be a part of Team Seven again. So, of course, since I obsess over everyone else putting that in their stories, I had to put it in mine. Next time we'll get to see Naruto and Sakura's reactions to finding out that he's back. Hopefully I'll manage to figure in some hints of SasuXSaku in there as well. I know that there will definitely be some NaruXHina moments, but I'm not so sure about the first pairing. And for those of you who liked the NejiXTenten moments in the first few chapters, I'm not too sure if I'll be able to put many more of those in. I know that there will at least be some towards the end, but I'm not sure how many I'll be able to create in the mean time. Hopefully it will be a lot; I think we all enjoy reading some good old fluff.**

**4. Sorry to anyone who thought that Takeshi appeared a little suddenly. I noticed as I checked over this that he really did appear too good to be true, but think of it as one of those random miracles. I think we can all agree that Sasuke deserves for one of them to come his way. Again, sorry, but I couldn't really think of what else to put to make it seem less sudden.**

**5. This note is just a rant about the manga; feel free to ignore it. NOOOO!! Chapter 398 won't be coming out next week!! And it was such an evil cliffhanger!! Well, not really for me, because I already had the theory that Itachi was good, so therefore I know what Madara is going to say, but it was still evil! Kishimoto is taking his first ever actual break in writing the manga, which he more than deserves, but why did he have to leave us off at such a suspenseful bit?! At least I'm fairly sure that I know what Madara is going to say… Well, in the mean time, I'll be writing the next chapter. See you then!**


	8. Eternal Desire

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Eight: Eternal Desire

**Disclaimer: ****I do not own Naruto. If I did, Naruto and the rest of the eight man squad would have caught up with Sasuke after his fight with Itachi two chapters ago. They didn't. Madara took him back to the base. Die Madara. Since it did not happen the way I wanted, I think we can all tell I don't own Naruto. (Okay, I'm trying to be original/ creative in these disclaimers, which is why they may seem a little random.)**

**A/N: Wow, this update took a little longer than usual, over a full week… My only excuse is that I actually had a paper to write in English class. (My school almost never gives us homework or projects, which is why I have so much free time to write.) Well, I finished the paper a week early, so I'll probably be free to type here for the next week or so. Sorry to anyone who's been wondering where the update is; I did not mysteriously vanish from the face of the earth.**

* * *

"Tsunade-sama!" The blond Hokage's head shot up. It appeared that she had fallen asleep at her desk again last night while filling out paperwork. Why did there have to be so much of the stuff anyway? She wiped the drool off of her cheek while taking stock of the situation. Someone was knocking, actually _banging_ would be a better term, on the door. And, judging by the force they were applying and the volume at which they were shouting, they had been at it for some time. Whoever it was would not be in a good mood when she finally let them in. Damn. If Shizune would just let her go home to sleep and do the paperwork later, they wouldn't have to deal with these kinds of situations.

"Hey, open up in there!" the person called again.

"K-Kiba-kun, please don't shout like that. Y-you may upset Tsunade-sama," stammered a voice that sounded a lot like Hyuuga Hinata. If Kiba was with her, then it must be their team reporting back from that scouting assignment she had given them yesterday.

"Come in you three!" she directed them, raising her voice so that she could be heard over Kiba's response to Hinata (something about Tsunade being a deaf old hag if she hadn't heard them the first few times—she really would have to teach him some respect for his elders). The doorknob turned, opening to reveal Shino, Hinata, and Kiba. And… someone else. Someone the Slug Sannin had expected to never again see within the walls of Konohagakure Village.

"What are you doing here, Uchiha?" she asked dangerously. Sasuke did not appear intimidated.

"The Akatsuki are going to attack you within a month," he informed her, "I don't think you want to eliminate your allies."

"Why should we trust you? Last time I checked, you were one of our enemies. What's your reason for wanting to help us?"

"Itachi. He's one of the Akatsuki. I am willing to ally myself with this pathetic village, if it means that I will be allowed my chance to kill him. Once he is dead, I will have nothing more that I need to do. You may do whatever you like with me after that time comes." His eyes hardened, flickering to Sharingan as he continued, "Make no mistake, Tsunade, if you try to kill me you will regret it. I no longer have any feelings of attachment to this village. I am willing to kill your ninja if they attempt to prevent me from accomplishing my revenge."

"And we can hold you to your word that you would remain after the conflict? How do we know that you won't just flee justice once Itachi is dead?" Sasuke's stare was emotionless and more frightening than it would have been if it were filled with rage.

"I've said it before Tsunade. I am an avenger. As long as revenge is granted to me, what happens to me and to this world is of no concern to me. I was willing to give my body to Orochimaru if it would have furthered that end. I am willing to give myself to the village now if it will help me to succeed." His cold onyx eyes met Tsunade's amber ones, and she could see in them that he was not lying. The blonde Hokage shivered slightly, chilled by the amount of cold hate she saw in the young shinobi's gaze. Here he was, only sixteen, and he had been so hardened by his hatred that he could say something as harsh as that and mean it fully. The world was a cruel place that it was able to do such a thing to someone who deserved so much more than this half life he had been given.

"Very well," she said, folding her hands in front of her on her desk. "I will hold you to those terms, Uchiha Sasuke." The avenger nodded stiffly, and she turned to face the only other kunoichi in the room.

"Hinata, could you fetch them? They'll be anxious to know of this arrangement."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama," the shy Hyuuga said with no trace of a stutter. She did not have to ask who Tsunade meant for her to get. Everyone present already knew exactly which 'they' Tsunade was referring to.

* * *

Naruto stirred and opened his eyes, wondering what had wrenched him from the realms of sleep to the waking world. His blinds were closed, so it couldn't have been the sun; he had forgotten to set his alarm clock again (whoops); he never naturally woke up before ten; what was it... oh. There was a faint tapping on the door to his apartment, so faint that he wondered how it had even woken him up.

Not bothering to think on it too much, he quickly leapt up, dashing to the door without realizing that he was dressed in nothing but his boxers. This error came back to bite him as soon as he opened the door, revealing Hyuuga Hinata. The shy kunoichi took one look at him, noticed his lack of outer garments, and promptly fainted.

"Hinata-chan! Hinata-chan, what's wrong?" Naruto looked down at himself and realized what it must have been that caused her to faint.

"Damn it," he muttered, furious with himself for upsetting Hinata (…again); she was such a sweet and innocent little girl, he had not business appearing before her wearing so little. He tried to silence the small feeling of sorrow he felt at her response to him and the little voice in his mind that wondered in a rather forlorn voice, _Does she really think that I look that bad?_ Shaking his head to dispel it, he checked that Hinata had not hit her head too hard. Once he was sure that she was indeed fine (except for being unconscious), he reentered his apartment, searching for some clothes to put on and berating himself again. He really had to learn to watch what he did around Hinata; it could not be healthy for a human to faint so often, and heaven forbid that he be the cause of any lasting harm to Hinata. While her shyness was a little weird, she was still one of his friends, and the last thing he wanted to do was to hurt one the people he cared about.

Hinata found Naruto staring intently at her when she finally opened her pale eyes several minutes later. Thankfully, he was now properly clothed, but his proximity made her nervous all over again. She concentrated on taking deep breaths and not turning too red.

"Hinata-chan!" Naruto cried upon seeing her awake. "Hinata-chan, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to make you faint like that; I'd just woken up and I'd forgotten to get dressed and…"

"It's alright Naruto-kun," she replied quietly, looking down so that he wouldn't see the blush creeping over her cheeks as she remembered how she had seen him. Hormones were something that the Hyuuga girl had had scant experience with before; while she had loved Naruto for years, she had never once found any attraction in the fantasies that Sasuke's fangirls had had of ripping his clothes off and doing… things with him. The site of Naruto dressed in so little clothing had created a disturbing feeling within her, making her feel even more awkward around him than usual. Thankfully, Naruto spoke again before she could take too much time to dwell on the uncomfortable situation.

"Hey, Hinata-chan? Not that I don't like seeing you, but why were you here?"

"Tsu-Tsunade-sama sent me as a messenger. Sh-she w-wants you to come to the Hokage Tower r-right away," the shy Hyuuga managed to get out.

"Hmm," Naruto said, adopting his 'thinking pose,' in which his arms were bent at the elbow, his right arm crossing his chest so that the hand touched his left elbow; his left arm bending up so that his left index finger was pressed against his cheek in a thoughtful manner. "Why would Tsunade-baa-chan want me to come?" he mused aloud. "I'm not allowed to leave the village, so it can't be a mission, and I didn't pull any pranks recently… Hinata-chan, did she say what she needed me for?" Hinata shook her head. She didn't know why she was lying to Naruto; she only knew that it seemed like something she was supposed to do. He probably wouldn't believe her anyway if she told him, and she knew he would love the surprise of walking into the Hokage's office to finding his old teammate there waiting for him. Even if he were mad at her for lying, she knew that right now his reunion with Sasuke was the most important thing; her feelings would have to be put aside for the moment in the face of that. His happiness meant more to her than her own did. Besides, they still had to fetch Sakura, a task that would become exponentially more difficult if Naruto was distracted by the knowledge that Sasuke was here in the village right now. All in all, it was better for her to lie at the moment, and hope that he could forgive her later.

"N-Naruto-kun," she addressed him, breaking him out of his meditations, "we have to get Sakura-san as well. Tsu-Tsunade-sama also wants to speak with her too. I-is that alright?" Naruto grinned his usual carefree grin.

"Of course Hinata-chan!" She smiled at his enthusiasm for a moment before standing up. Hinata walked to the end of Naruto's floor, Konoha's Number One Hyperactive Knucklehead Ninja following suit, before the two leapt off, traveling by rooftop towards the apartment of both of their favorite medic.

* * *

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried a few minutes later, banging loudly on Sakura's door. He waited for a minute, hoping for a response, knocking again when none came. "SAKURA-CHAN!" he bellowed.

"N-Naruto-kun, I d-don't think that you should shout so loudly," Hinata stammered beside him. "S-Sakura-san's neighbors are probably still trying to sleep, and it would be very rude to disturb them…"

"Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan sleeps like a log," the blond explained to her. "You have to knock this loudly if you want to wake her up before noon."

"But Naruto-kun, it's just after 7:00AM." Naruto looked at her with an expression of shock.

"Then how'd you get me to wake up if it's so early?" he asked her. Hinata shrugged slightly, nothing so large as to seem rude or unseemly, but just barely enough for Naruto to be able to see through her thick layer of jacket. He really did wonder why she wore that thing; from what he'd seen during the Chuunin Exams, Hinata had a great figure. Wait, he did not just think something like that about her _again_!

To distract himself from his hormones, the awkward teenage male hammered on Sakura's door again, screaming for the entire neighborhood to hear.

"SAKURA-CHAN, OPEN UP!!" He got what he asked for. Before he even finished his hammering upon the door, it had flown open, sending him stumbling forward so that he almost fell into the pinkette kunoichi. Sakura was thankfully dressed properly (they did not want a repeat of what had happened at Naruto's apartment, especially because Sakura would probably kill him), and appeared to be possessed by some sort of demonic presence, one that lusted for (Naruto's) blood.

"NARUTOOO!!" she screamed, an aura of fury emanating from her as a nonexistent wind blew at her cherry blossom pink hair.

"Sakura-chan," he whimpered in a small voice, terrified to the point of nearly wetting himself.

"NARUTO BAKA, DON'T WAKE ME UP THIS EARLY!!" Sakura shouted. The blond stammered out various apologies to no avail. His teammate began to pummel him, thankfully not applying her full inhuman strength, but that didn't mean that the blows didn't hurt. It took nearly a full minute to sate her rage, by which time Naruto was a mass of purpling bruises.

"Sakura-chan," he moaned in pain. She glared at him, and he stopped talking.

"Naruto," she began, sounding much calmer though still furious with him, "I have told you time and time again: do _not_ wake me up early on days when we don't have any missions or team practice. Most of us need this thing called _sleep._"

"But Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan said that we needed to get you before we went to see Tsunade-baa-chan," he whined. "I had to wake you up if I wanted to find out what Tsunade-baa-chan wanted me for."

"Naruto, Tsunade-shishou just summoned you. She does that all the time, yet you're acting like it's the greatest mystery in the world. It's probably not as interesting as you're making yourself think it is."

"But she didn't tell Hinata-chan what is was, so it must be important and top secret. Please Sakura-chan, just come," he begged. Sakura rolled her eyes slightly, but nodded all the same to indicate that she would come. "Yetta!" the blond exclaimed, literally jumping for joy. Sakura rolled her eyes again, though she smiled slightly in amusement at Naruto's antics.

* * *

Naruto's enthusiasm still had not worn off as they neared the Hokage Tower. At Sakura's advice, the three shinobi had chosen to walk rather than travel by rooftop in order to conserve chakra, in case Tsunade needed them for a mission or something else that would require them to be at their full strength. This severely slowed their progress, resulting in Naruto being even more impatient than usual to get there and put an end to his wondering.

"Sakura-chaaaan," he whined, dragging out the suffix to show his impatience, "hurry up. I want to see why Tsunade-baa-chan needed us." Sakura sighed in exasperation as she explained again

"Naruto, whatever it is will still be there when we arrive. In the mean time, pay attention to where you're going. You were almost run over by that cart back there, and when you jumped out of the way you landed right in the middle of some little girls playing hopscotch."

"Heh heh," Naruto laughed awkwardly, slightly embarrassed. "Still, Sakura-chan, don't you want to see what it is?"

"Getting yourself killed while walking across the village won't get you there any faster," the pinkette replied scathingly. Naruto sighed.

"Hinata-chan, are you sure you don't know why Tsunade-baa-chan wanted us?" he asked. The simple question nearly caused Hinata to freeze in her tracks as her guilt over the lie caught up with her.

"N-no, Naruto-kun, I d-don't know what it is," she stammered. Sakura noticed that the Hyuuga began to fiddle with her hands as she replied. With the observation skills that came naturally to most ninja (Naruto was an exception) she realized that Hinata was lying, though she decided not to press further. Hinata would never be dishonest to anyone without a cause; whatever her reason, it would be for the best. Besides, it would all become clear once they reached their destination. Whatever it was, Sakura hoped that the news was good. After the forecast of an Akatsuki invasion and the orders to cease their efforts to find Sasuke, she had had about all the bad news she could take.

"Sakura-san," Hinata addressed her. Sakura turned to face the Hyuuga heiress, who was pointing slightly to the right of the direction in which she was headed. With a brief flush of embarrassment, Sakura realized that the Hokage Tower was in that direction, almost right in front of them. She must have spaced out thinking, and as a result had almost walked right by her destination.

"Arigatou Hinata-chan," she told her friend. Hinata nodded, and the two followed Naruto, who had continued on without bothering to wait up for them.

The Uzumaki's pace quickened now that the Tower was in sight. He didn't know why, but he had a gut feeling that he had to get there as soon as possible. Part of that uncertainty as to the reason was what drove him on; if there was one thing Naruto hated (besides the Akatsuki, the Snake Bastard, people who shunned him for being a Jinchuuriki, and running out of ramen) it was when he didn't know what to do. Being helpless and unsure, it was something he had vowed never to be again. He had to be strong, strong enough so that no one could ever call him a drop-out again, strong enough to be Hokage, strong enough so that he wouldn't lose anyone else precious to him.

He shoved open the building door, dimly aware of Sakura and Hinata following him, his mind blank of all thought save for the overwhelming desire to see what it was. Without looking left or right he proceeded directly to Tsunade's office. He didn't even bother to knock or announce himself; instead he turned the door knob, opening the door. Awaiting him inside the room was…

Sakura and Hinata caught up to him mere moments later. The Godaime's apprentice stood impatiently behind Naruto, craning her neck to see into her master's office. The idiot had frozen in the door, barring her from entering.

"Naruto, move!" she snapped, annoyed by his inconsideration. The blond complied silently, his motions that of one who is not consciously thinking about them. Once he stepped out of the way, Sakura could clearly see what it was that had affected him so. Her reaction was much the same. Her body froze, too shocked to obey any of her commands. All that she could manage was to whisper his name.

"Sasuke…kun."

He stood directly across from her, leaning against the wall with the casually arrogant posture she remembered well from her Genin days. Raven black bangs fell into his face, arranging themselves so perfectly that it seemed an artist had spent hours figuring out how to make them land just so. Onyx eyes sparkled with a small breath of life, something that had been conspicuous in its absence when they had met up at Orochimaru's base six months ago. His skin seemed slightly less ashen and sickly looking as well, though he was still considerably paler than any of his team. The same old smirk Sakura remembered from her Genin days was still there, giving Sakura such a sense of nostalgia that she had to blink to keep from crying.

"Hello Naruto, Sakura," Sasuke said coolly. His words released Naruto from his shock, enabling the blond to begin shouting.

"Teme! Why are you here? Didn't you hurt us enough when you left the first time?! If you're just here so you can leave us again, I swear, I'll kick your ass dattebayo!" Sasuke smirked.

"You're still as naïve as ever, Naruto. Do you really think I'd return here if I had any intention of leaving again? The ANBU Black Ops would never let me out of their sight if they thought I was planning on betraying the village again. No, I'm here to stay, at least for now." Naruto turned eagerly to face Tsunade, hoping for confirmation.

"Baa-chan, is that true?" His words contained the desperation of three long years of longing for Sasuke to be returned to them. The blonde Hokage sighed.

"It's true Naruto. Uchiha has formed an agreement with the village. He will remain here until the Akatsuki invade, and be allowed to face his brother when that time comes. In exchange, once the invasion has passed and Itachi is dead, Sasuke will turn himself over to the village without protest. He will face justice for his crimes, and he will not resist."

"Then… Sasuke… is going to be staying here, until the invasion?" Tsunade nodded. "Yetta! Sasuke, did you here that? You're going to be in Konoha!" The Uchiha smirked.

"Dobe, I was the one who made the deal. I know what it entails better than you do." Even though the words were harsh, the tone was teasing, sounding more like the voice of the Sasuke they had known in Konoha than that of the missing-nin he had become. It almost seemed as though the last three years had never happened, and Sasuke and Naruto were just mocking each other as they had during their time as Genin. Sakura could nearly believe that was true; that there was only the joy of return in Sasuke's unexpected reappearance. But, in her heart, she knew it was not so. Beneath the smile that had appeared so naturally when she heard that Sasuke was staying, the kunoichi felt a dark sense of dread. Yes, Sasuke would remain in the village until after the Akatsuki invasion, but once Itachi died… so would he. The youngest Uchiha would voluntarily accept the punishments for his crimes, and Sakura had no doubt what they would be. He had left the village, joined a known enemy of Konoha, and attempted to murder Leaf shinobi on multiple occasions. There was only one punishment suitable for one who had committed such acts. The worst punishment of all, the one that would take her beloved Sasuke from her forever so soon after he had returned. Death_._

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Note 1: Muhahaha, evil cliffhanger. That just screamed 'end the chapter right here.' I hope you all liked that, and once again, I'm sorry that the update took so long to come out.**

**Note 2: Remember how two chapters ago I promised that there would be a really long chapter coming up by now? Sorry about not having that. At that point I thought these last two chapters would be combined into one longer chapter, but they ended up as two chapters. The next chapter may be longer, but I'm not making any more promises if I'm not sure that I'll be able to fulfill them. However, I can be sure that in the next chapter there will be fluff. It will mostly be NaruXHina, hopefully with some NejiXTen thrown in and definitely a couple of hints of SasuXSaku (though nothing so solid as to be called fluff for that pairing—just some little things thrown in so it doesn't come as a total shocker when they're together in the end).**

**Note 3: Selena11anuri (who is unofficially my beta for my stories here) says that these chapters are a bit too long. I was wondering what you guys thought of them. I'll definitely keep them being at least 3,000 words, but do you guys think I should cease having the 5,000+ word chapters (at least until the climax—then I won't be able to help but make them long… I hope)? Please let me know. (Please, can more people than last time respond to this poll? It's really annoying when I put these in and only one person mentions it. Arigatou!)**


	9. Eternal Wishes

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Nine: Eternal Wishes

**Disclaimer: I own Naruto! (Kishimoto-sama's lawyers glare evilly at me.) I mean, I don't own Naruto (yet…).**

**A/N: Okay, my excuse for the update being a while this time was that I was busy with non-fanficion-based things. Selena11anuri lent me ****New Moon****, which is the second book in the Twilight series for anyone that doesn't know. So I spent literally all of Monday reading that. Then I had an afterschool club Tuesday, so I didn't get home for a while; Wednesday I had a thing at my school starting that took up most of the evening; and Friday I was on an all-day field trip with my school (as in, until about 10:00 pm). Really, I've only had last Sunday, Thursday, and Saturday to work on this chapter. Sorry to those of you who were (again) wondering what the heck happened to me, but I really was busy.**

* * *

She stood on a barren plain, several kilometers outside of the forest surrounding Konoha. Though she was not alone in the physical sense, emotionally she was as alone as if she were the last human on the planet. No one could possibly understand the pain in her heart right now, no one. No one could possibly understand how difficult it was for her to just stand here, waiting, knowing what was to come without being able to prevent it. If she had dared to, she would have screamed. But she did not. All the girl allowed herself to do was to stare numbly down the road that led to the Hidden Leaf Village, waiting for that telltale movement that would let her know when _he_ was coming.

The weather reflected her mood, a small consolation for which she was grateful. She didn't think she would have been able to bear it if today were bright and sunny and happy. Instead, gray clouds completely obscured the sky, the sun, allowing only for a dim, flickering light to filter through. Small drops of icy cold rain fell, preceding the storm that would strike later that day.

The crowd was as subdued as the weather. Nearly the entire population of Konohagakure no Sato had braved the elements to come here today, yet scarcely a sound was made. Even the small children were silent, picking up on their parents' and neighbors' tension and knowing not to break the silence. A cold breeze stirred the air, bringing further chill to the situation. Not one person reacted. The crowd held its breath, waiting.

It was several minutes before anything changed. The difference was barely perceptible, just a slight fidgeting, a murmuring from neighbor to neighbor. "They're coming." "They're almost here." "It's time."

At an unspoken command, every eye turned to the path leading to the village. A flicker of movement could be seen on the horizon, heralding the awaited arrival. A few more minutes wait brought it close enough for the waiting villagers to identify the approaching figures. Two of the three were ANBU Black Ops, the elite shinobi of the village. The third man also bore the telltale signs that he too was a ninja, though it was obvious that he was not held in the same regard as the other two. He was their prisoner.

His wrists were bound behind his back, tied with sharp wires that would have prevented a normal prisoner from escaping. But he was a ninja after all, just like the ANBU; he would only have to perform a simple Nawanuke no Jutsu and he would be free. Any second now, he would break his bones and escape from his captors; he would flee far, far away, and they would never catch him, they would never hurt him…

One glance at his face was all that was needed to know that that dream was a lie. His head was bowed forward in resignation, his raven-colored bangs falling limply beside it, as though they couldn't summon the energy to retain their usual appearance of intentional disarray. Shadows decorated the skin beneath his eyes, making his naturally pale skin seem abnormally light. The corners of his mouth curved slightly downward in an expression of defeat. From within the crowd came a small choked sob. It was as quiet as she could make it, but the prisoner still turned to face her.

"Sakura," he addressed her, "don't cry." A small spark of determination was all that remained of his usual confident self in his broken onyx eyes, the only sign that he was indeed still among the living, at least for now. The expression on his face was pained, but set. He was willing to let himself die here today. He intended for it to happen. Sakura sobbed again as he turned away from her, walking forward to where the executioner awaited him at the head of the crowd. Someone—Naruto judging by the orange jumpsuit—put a comforting arm about her shoulders. She heard him sniffle quietly as he attempted to suppress his own sorrow over their teammate's impending death.

Their attention turned to the executioner's block as Tsunade stepped forward, presiding over the ceremony as her role as Hokage required of her. Sasuke reached her a second later, turning so that he stared back at the crowd with his haunting, defeated eyes. The blonde Hokage cleared her throat the silence the crowd's muttering before beginning to speak.

"I have summoned you here today, villagers of Konohagakure, to witness the execution of this man." She gestured towards Sasuke, who did not respond. "Many of you knew Uchiha Sasuke in the days when he was a ninja of our village." Here she directed a sympathetic look at Naruto and Sakura, the latter of whom bit back a fresh sob. Her teacher gave her an encouraging smile, which Sakura attempted to return. With a small sigh that she had to cause her apprentice such grief, Tsunade continued, "However, those days have passed.

"Earlier today, Sasuke was tried and convicted for his crimes. They are as follows: leaving the village without permission, joining with a known criminal enemy of the village, participating in various illegal acts while under the direction of said criminal, and the attempted murder of Konoha shinobi on multiple occasions." Naruto looked a little shocked at the attempted murder charge; it had been him every time, and he had deliberately made himself busy during the trial to prevent them from being able to verify that particular charge. Tsunade paused, taking a deep breath.

"The punishment for his actions is death." Sakura's eyes widened in unimaginable horror as the executioner stepped forward, bearing a large battleaxe in hand. With one swift kick, he knocked Sasuke's feet out from under him, sending the Uchiha to his knees. He then set the cold metal edge of the axe against Sasuke's throat.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura breathed, tears welling up in her eyes. As though he had heard her, Sasuke looked up, his eyes meeting her own. In them still was that final spark of determination, that calm acceptance of his fate… that refusal to run away from the impending death. Sakura wiped at her eyes, refusing to let her memories of the last few moments of Sasuke's life be blurred by tears.

The executioner lifted his axe from the side of the Uchiha's neck, drawing back for the strike that would smoothly decapitate his prisoner. Sasuke stared composedly up at his soon-to-be killer, seeming prepared for what was to come. Sakura inhaled sharply, afraid for Sasuke even if he was not afraid for himself. The executioner smiled.

He swung his axe in an even arc, heading for the Uchiha's exposed neck...

"SASUKE-KUN!!" Sakura screamed, jolting awake. Her blankets were twisted around her body, sticky with the cold sweat of terror. She panted heavily for a few minutes, her eyes wide as she waited for the final images of her dream to fade away. It had been so incredibly detailed, she had really believed it when Sasuke—

_Don't think that!_ Her mind screamed at her. _Sasuke-kun's fine, he's not dead, you and Naruto are going to see him in the morning. He's alright._

"He's alright," she repeated aloud. "He's alright, he's alright, he's alright …"

* * *

The day's first pale rays of sunlight filtered through her window the next morning, reflecting off already opened green eyes. Even though Sakura knew it had only been a dream, the fear it had left her with had been sufficient to keep her from being able to fall back asleep the rest of the night. Instead she had lain awake in bed, awaiting the arrival of the dawn. Now that it had finally come, the girl shrugged off her blankets, moving to get her clothes without really putting her mind to what she was doing. In this same manner she entered her bathroom, brushing her teeth, washing her face, and carrying out the rest of the tasks she needed to in order to appear presentable for the day.

The kunoichi emerged from her apartment several minutes later, looking considerably more alert than she had before. At a casual glance, no one would be able to tell that she had been awake half the night worrying.

Sakura smirked as she determined this, pleased that her efforts to disguise that detail had been successful, before heading off toward the old training ground where Kakashi had administered the Bell Test to the original Team Seven long ago, and again to her and Naruto a two and a half years later. Before leaving Tsunade's office the previous day, Sasuke had agreed (well, more like been forced to agree) to meeting her and Naruto there in the morning. And, if he chose not to show up, there was always that Sasuke Tracking Chip the fangirls had taken the liberty of installing under his skin years ago. Never underestimate what rabid fans are willing to do to you after they drug your water supply. (Sadly the STC only worked within the village of Konohagakure, which is why she had never used it to find him while he was with Orochimaru.) While Sakura was no longer a _fangirl_, that didn't mean that she didn't know where the controls were and how to use them.

That rather disturbing revelation aside, Naruto was already there when she arrived. His female teammate started with surprise; normally she was the first one here. He noticed her as she approached.

"Sakura-chan!" he called to her, waving enthusiastically. Sakura smiled at his energy before raising her own hand in greeting.

"Hey Naruto." Putting on a small burst of her own energy, she ran the remainder of the distance between them, grinning all the while.

"I can't believe it Sakura-chan," her blond friend said quietly, "after all this time, he's finally back with us."

"I know," she replied, equally grave. "I just hope that this time he can stay." Naruto nodded. The silence following her words was undisturbed for several minutes, until the cry of joy Naruto gave when he finally saw Sasuke approaching.

"TEME!!" Sakura would have clapped her hands over her ears at the volume of his shout if she had not been so distracted by her own rush of joy at the sight of the black haired avenger.

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered his name before shaking her head furiously. She had vowed not so long ago that she would not fangirl Sasuke if he ever returned; that included insisting on adding the suffix "-kun" to his name every time she said it. She wanted him to at least care for her as a friend, and he would never do that if she insisted on being so, as he would put it, "annoying."

The Uchiha appeared either to not notice the suffix or (more likely) simply have expected it from the "annoying" fangirl who was "worse than Naruto" in the days before Naruto got to be the amazing ninja he was today. He merely continued towards them, walking in a confident, assured manner not at all like the one most people would have had when staying in a village full of people who did not trust them and only kept them alive so that they could kill their mutual enemies. Then again, Uchiha Sasuke's reactions were not like those of most people.

"Hn, Dobe, Sakura," he addressed them, his tone as arrogant as his posture. He folded his arms across his chest upon reaching them before continuing. "So, why am I here?" Sakura mentally sighed; she should have known it would take more than just a meeting under non-hostile circumstances to reconnect their old bonds with Sasuke, and yet she had let herself hope anyway. Naruto seemed to have been the same, though he found it far easier for him to brush off.

"Duh teme, you're here so that we can be Team Seven again! Kakashi-sensei had a mission now, so he couldn't come, but the three of us can still be a happy little family again, right?" For a second Sakura almost thought Sasuke was considering it, daring to hope that his answer would be "yes" as he opened his mouth.

"No." The flat, emotionless voice felt like ice down her spine. "When will you guys wake up and face the truth? There never was a Team Seven. Those "bonds" you both are so obsessed with never really existed; it was all inside your heads. I admit that for a while I thought that the path upon which the three of us were teammates may become reality, but things could never have gone that way. I am an avenger. Against that fact, all these things that mean so much to the two of you are absolutely worthless to me."

"D-do you really mean that, Sasuke?" Sakura asked him, tears welling in her eyes. For the moment, she made no move to stop their flow, though inside she cursed her weakness for crying in front of him again. At least she had managed to leave the "-kun" off of his name, though the utter lack of a suffix could be just as bad when interpreted the wrong way. **(see Note 1)**

His onyx orbs held no trace of pity or regret as he looked at her.

"Yes." All her hopes died with that one word. Sobbing in truth now, Sakura turned and fled, running somewhere, anywhere, as long at it wasn't here, with this new, changed Sasuke to whom she and Naruto meant absolutely nothing. Anything would have been better than that. Anything at all.

Naruto turned to face Sasuke, real anger in his cerulean eyes.

"Teme, why'd you say that to her?!"

"It's only the truth, Naruto. It does Sakura no good to delude herself with ideas of miracles that will never happen."

"Bastard," the blond spat before turning and running after his pink haired friend, hoping to comfort her, even he knew that there was nothing he could possibly say that would make it alright. Sasuke watched him leave, his face impassive. Once he was sure that his former best friend/rival was gone, he sighed sadly.

"You two never did understand. Sakura, when I left you claimed to know what had happened with my clan, but you never really understood. I've told you time and time again that I am an avenger. I have an obligation. As long as I still have that obligation, I can't afford bonds of friendship, love, or anything else. I only have my bond through hatred with _him_. You two can't mean anything to me until then. No matter how much we may wish it could be otherwise, it can't. I have a duty to my clan, to my family. I can't trade that duty in search of happiness. To do so would be a worse betrayal that Itachi's.

"I am an avenger. What that means is that until I succeed in my revenge I must lead a half life, a painful life, a life without friends. A life in which the two of you don't mean to me what I know you do."

* * *

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto paused to listen for a response. When none came he took a deep breath, preparing to shout again. "SAKURA-CHAN!!"

This time he heard something, though not the sort of response he had wanted. Coming from the bushes was a choking sound, like the noise made by a crying girl.

"Sakura-chan," he cried again, this time in concern, as he dashed towards her. The sight that greeted him made his heart twinge with pity for the girl. He himself had felt awful when Sasuke spoke to them. But from the look of things, Sakura had taken it a hundred times worse. She was curled up in a ball on the ground, crying awful, brokenhearted sobs. "Sakura-chan," he murmured pityingly.

She looked up at the sound of his voice.

"H-hey Naruto," she choked out, wiping at her eyes in an attempt to stem the flow of tears. Sakura had not been comfortable crying in front of others since Sasuke left. She would sob her heart out if she was alone, but once someone else showed up she would wipe away her tears and insist on trying to be strong.

He sat down beside her, putting an arm around her trembling shoulders. She smiled gratefully at him, sniffling as her sobs subsided.

"Arigatou, Naruto." Her friend's gaze hardened as he took in her broken appearance, her tear-reddened eyes, her fragile expression, the bits of leaf and other forest materials that had stuck to her hair and clothes from when she had lain on the ground.

"He has no right to do this to you," the blond Jinchuuriki said dangerously.

"Who?" Sakura asked, puzzled and more than a little frightened by this sudden change in her foster brother's attitude.

"Sasuke. That bastard has no right to treat you like this. He already broke your heart once, when he left the village. He has no right to do it again." Naruto stood up suddenly, fury emanating from him in waves that were almost palpable. The red chakra of the Kyuubi still had not appeared, but that was a small blessing at the moment.

"Naruto, where are you going?"

"To beat some sense into that bastard. He can't do this!"

"No!" she cried desperately. "Please, Naruto, I'll be fine. I can get over it; we can get him back like we planned to from the start, just please, don't hurt him. Not Sasuke-kun. Not him." _Sakura-chan_, Naruto thought in mental agony. Sasuke was his best friend, and he considered him his brother, but Sakura had a special bond with him as well. She was his sister, and she was hurt. And when Sakura was hurt, whoever had done it to her had to pay. Once, Sasuke had felt the same, long ago. Now, he was the one who had hurt her. And Sakura wanted him to leave Sasuke alone. Some things were just too much to ask.

He knew that she loved him. He'd accepted that fact when they were both thirteen and he had made her the Promise of a Lifetime, his vow to return Sasuke to her. There had even been a time, during the later days of Team Seven, when he'd thought that Sasuke was beginning to care for her as well. That time had passed though, and Sakura meant no more to Sasuke than any of the other people he was willing to crush beneath him in order to accomplish his revenge. Even so, to Sakura Sasuke still did, and always would, mean the world. No matter what he did to her, she would always love him unconditionally.

"Come one Naruto," Sakura said, giving him a smile that was obviously fake, "let's go back. Sasuke-kun is probably wondering where we are." He smiled sadly back at her as the two of them got up, brushing dirt and leaves off themselves. Sakura in the lead, they headed back to the training ground where they had left Sasuke, and where he hopefully still waited for them. As his sorrow-filled eyes rested on the back of his female teammate, Naruto couldn't help but let a single cheerless thought form in his mind.

_No matter what, she'll love him unconditionally… and he'll leave her broken in the end._

* * *

Sasuke was still waiting for them, something that amazed Naruto greatly when he and Sakura returned to the old training ground. Amid his fury at the dark haired shinobi for hurting Sakura, he felt a flicker of hope that maybe, somewhere deep within his frozen heart, Sasuke did care about them after all.

Sakura cleared her throat, drawing their attention to her so that she could speak.

"I'm sorry for running off like that, Sasuke-san." Sasuke's mask of apathy almost slipped in shock. Sasuke-san. She had called him Sasuke-san. Sasuke_-san_. Not Sasuke_-kun!_ Now that he bothered to notice it, she had left the suffix off of his name earlier, when she had asked him if he truly meant that she and Naruto were worthless to him. He wondered if that meant that he had succeeded in getting her to stop loving him, and tried to ignore the little voice in his head that howled in agony at the thought.

Naruto noticed as well. He could tell that Sasuke did by the brief flicker of anguish that had appeared on the avenger's face, though Sakura had guarded her expression well enough that he couldn't tell if she had noticed Sasuke's reaction. The hyperactive knucklehead had to struggle to conceal his sudden rush of joy. If Sasuke cared that Sakura had left off his usual "-kun," much less was hurt by it… even his not-too-bright mind could piece together what that meant. It meant that when he had told them earlier that the two of them meant nothing to him, he had lied. Sakura, at least, meant something to him. From the look of things, she meant a very great deal to him.

If he still harbored his feelings for Sakura, then he still held onto some trace of his old self. Somewhere behind that cold façade was the old Sasuke. All they had to do was find some way to force his friend to admit that.

For the first time in three long years, Naruto felt like maybe he could be Hokage someday after all. Because now, he was about to prove that he was indeed able to save one friend. And if he could do that, then maybe he was fit to become Hokage after all.

"I was hoping," Sakura continued her earlier thread of conversation, "that we could forget about that and just tour the village today. Is that alright with the two of you?" Naruto nodded eagerly, watching Sasuke out of the corner of his eye to see how his old rival would respond. The Uchiha nodded stiffly, still apparently a little put out by Sakura's choice of suffix for his name. Sakura smiled. "Good."

Neither of the boys heard the double meaning laced into her words.

* * *

The three of them strolled around, not heading anywhere in particular. They saw Hinata at one of the other training grounds, and Sakura insisted on stopping to say hi to her. The Hyuuga heiress was alone, practicing her Shugohakke Rokujuyon Sho (Protection of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms—Hinata's original move from the Bikochou filler arc) in preparation for the upcoming Akatsuki invasion. Naruto watched, mesmerized, as Hinata wove strands of her chakra into a web in front of her, ready to shield her from harm and deliver a powerful shock to her opponent. He had not lied to her when he watched her teach Sakura; Hinata was beautiful when she was training. She seemed more confident, sure of herself for the first time, and it made her seem like a whole new person. He barely caught himself from saying so aloud.

"Hinata-chan!" Sakura called to her when the Hyuuga appeared to have finished the jutsu. Hinata looked up at the sound of her name, smiling as she recognized them.

"Sakura-san." For once Naruto's presence did not appear to have any effects on her; Hinata appeared just as confident as she had while practicing her jutsu.

"Hinata-chan, I don't want to disturb you if you're busy training, but would you like to spar with me?" Sakura asked her friend. She had a sudden urge to show Sasuke she was no longer weak. After she ran off crying earlier, he probably doubted any of the rumors that had undoubtedly reached him about her training under Tsunade, or at least assumed that the Hokage had given her up for a lost cause. While her knowledge of Juuken would not prove that she had succeeded in becoming a medic, it would at least prove to him that she had indeed done something these last three years and was no longer some little hindrance he needed to always watch out for.

"Of course I'll spar with you Sakura-san," Hinata replied formally. She stood up, trying to continue with the confidence she had managed to display thus far. She did not want to continue stammering and losing her dignity every time Naruto appeared. If she just pretended that he was not here, she would be fine, she had told herself. It was a lot harder said than done. Though she made every effort to hide it, her palms had gone sweaty with nerves, and the back of her mouth felt unusually dry. At least her old stutter had yet to make an appearance.

Sasuke watched as the two girls eased themselves into the starting pose for Juuken. His eyes narrowed as they fell on Sakura. Was she serious? Did she really think that _she _could fight Hyuuga Hinata? Hinata had never been the strongest of his old classmates, but even with her miserable ability she had still been able to defeat Sakura during practice bouts fought at the Academy. He knew Sakura had trained under Tsunade for the last three years, just as Naruto had trained under Jiraiya and he himself had trained under Orochimaru, but she was still Sakura. And Sakura was weak; it was a simple fact of life. There was no way she could do anything…

Hinata attacked first, beginning the fight. Quick as lightning, her arm extended, striking at Sakura's right shoulder. Sasuke braced himself mentally, preparing for Sakura's cry of pain when the blow hit.

It never did. Her moves even faster that Hinata's had been, Sakura raised her arm, blocking the Hyuuga heiress's strike before launching an attack of her own. Her blow connected, delivering a sharp burst of chakra to the keirakukei wrapped around Hinata's stomach. She hadn't had much time to prepare the blow, so it wasn't enough to incapacitate Hinata, but the Hyuuga girl coughed up blood anyway. Sasuke's eyes widened. He had not heard anything about Sakura studying with the Hyuuga clan during his absence. The rumors about her being the Gondaime's apprentice he had heard often enough, but nothing about this.

"Naruto," he addressed his friend quietly, making sure that the girls would not be able to hear them.

"Yeah?"

"When did Sakura learn Juuken?" Why did that make the blond look at him so somberly?

"She started learning it about a month ago, teme. There was a book in Tsunade-baa-chan's library about the keirakukei, and she asked Hinata-chan to teach her the fighting moves. In less than a month, she was able to fight most of the Hyuuga, not just Hinata-chan and Hanabi-chan. She seemed really determined, like she was when she first started training as Tsunade-baa-chan's apprentice. It was cuz she did this to find you, Sasuke. Sakura-chan knew that Juuken users gain an affinity for sensing the keirakukei after a while, and she wanted to combine that with her chakra control to turn into a tracking system. She thought it was our only chance left to find you." Sasuke's eyes had widened ever so slightly during Naruto's speech. Now, he closed them most of the way, facing the ground with a sorrowful expression on his face. Naruto saw this, and pressed further. "She really loves you, you know."

"I know Naruto. I know." A breeze blew through the training ground, tugging at Sasuke's hair like Naruto's words tugged at his heart. Watching Sakura now, strong and confident, he had a hard time remembering the sobbing girl he had left on a bench near the village gates all those years ago. He didn't, however, have any difficulty remembering her words to him. They had been ingrained upon his soul long ago.

_"I'll do anything for you Sasuke! Just please, please, don't go!"_

He'd known then what he was doing to her. He had known that by leaving he condemned her, and Naruto as well, to the same half life in which he himself suffered, that half life of eternally longing for one thing so completely that that longing came to be the substance of your very being. He had known that, and he had done it anyway. And from the look of things, it was his return that would save them from that half life, and bring them back to the world of the living. He had done what he needed to in order to right the wrong he had committed. So why then was it only now that he felt the guilt for what he had done to her? Why was it that Naruto's words had felt like a knife striking at his heart?

"It's because you love her too, teme," Naruto answered in response to his unasked question.

"I don't love her Naruto. I can't."

"It doesn't matter that you can't, Sasuke. You do anyway." Sasuke shook his head. No, he couldn't love her. Not yet. Not until his duty as the avenger of the Uchiha clan had been fulfilled.

"Say whatever you like teme. It doesn't change the fact that you do."

* * *

At least Naruto had not mentioned their conversation to the girls after Sakura and Hinata finished their spar. It had been Sakura who won, to Sasuke's immense surprise, though the others seemed to expect it. Instead, the blond Jinchuuriki had told Sasuke and Sakura to continue on without him, he wanted to talk to Hinata for a while. Hinata had blushed bright red, barely managing to keep from fainting at the idea. Sakura had whispered something reassuring in the shy Hyuuga's ear before grabbing Sasuke none too gently by the arm and guiding him away, though not before he heard Naruto begin to talk.

"Hinata-chan, you looked really great today when you were fighting Sakura-chan. I mean, I know you lost, but you looked amazing. You were really strong and confident and awesome."

"Th-thank you, Naruto-kun."

"I was wondering why you aren't like that more of the time. You look so beautiful when you're not always scared Hinata-chan."

"Be-beautiful?" Naruto took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself to say what needed to be said.

"I g-guess what I'm trying to say is that I r-really like you, Hinata-chan," he said, reduced by his nerves to stammering as she so often did.

"Come on," Sakura told Sasuke, pulling harder on his arm. "It's wrong to eavesdrop." She smiled mischievously once they were a safe distance away. "It looks like there will be a new couple soon. It's about time too; Hinata-chan's loved him since we were in the Academy, and he's been starting to like her for a while too. Finally, two people who were obviously meant to be together start to do something about it." Sasuke's mouth went dry at her words, and he hoped that she was not chiding him. But that was impossible. She had stopped calling him Sasuke-kun; the removal of his suffix meant she was no longer interested in him. He had had his chance with her and he had lost it.

"Did anyone else get together while I was gone?" he asked to divert attention from his own awkwardness. Girls liked to gossip, right?

Sakura looked faintly puzzled by his sudden interest, but she began nonetheless.

"Well, Neji and Tenten got together about a month ago, at least publically; no one knows how long they were seeing each other before they decided to tell the rest of us about it. Asuma-sensei and Kurenai-sensei were together for a while, and Kurenai-sensei is pregnant with their kid, but Asuma-sensei was killed a couple of months ago when the Akatsuki attacked the Land of Fire. Ino-chan and Temari-san both like Shikamaru, but even though he's a genius he still can't see it. Both of them are at each other's throats over the matter, and Temari-san is Suna's ambassador, so it isn't like she's gone often. Apart from Naruto and Hinata getting together just now, that's all that's been going on romance wise in Konoha. What about you? Did you meet anyone while you were in Oto Sasuke-kun?" she asked, her tone teasing, though there was a genuine question there.

There had been Karin, that girl in charge of one of Orochimaru's many lairs who seemed intent on getting Sasuke to like her one way or the other. And then there was the time that Orochimaru had assigned one of his strongest kunoichi to train Sasuke because he was busy with one of his experiments for a while. The girl had nearly tried to rape him, and had had to be instructed through a violent burst of Chidori that Uchiha Sasuke was not just playing hard to get. There were also the random females (civilians and kunoichi) throwing themselves on him wherever he went, not to mention the random females that Orochimaru _encouraged_ him to get together with. (The sick pervert had seemed to have an idea that Sasuke was willing to work on his goal of reviving the Uchiha clan _before_ Orochimaru took over his body, and then leave the kids to grow up in Otogakure and ensure Orochimaru an eternity of Sharingan-bearing vessels for his soul.)

There was no way he was telling Sakura any of that. (Especially the bit about Orochimaru and reviving the Uchiha clan.) Besides, nothing had come of any of those rather one-sided relationships. He had never cared about any of the girls in Oto one way or the other. It would be pointless to tell Sakura about things that would never affect her, especially when he knew that knowing of those things would cause her to fret.

"Hn, no," he informed her. Was it his imagination, or did she look relieved that he hadn't found anyone he cared about during his time away?

She did not press him for further information, something for which he was grateful. The two of them walked in silence, though it was not an uncomfortable one. Rather, it was the silence of two people who are content in each other's company and do not feel the need to disturb that peacefulness with words. The route Sasuke set for the two of them eventually led to the Uchiha Compound, where Sakura took her leave of the Uchiha's company. She wished that she had been allowed to remain beside him for just a little longer, but she had known Sasuke long enough to be familiar with his habits. If he took them to his house, it meant that she was beginning to bore him, and he wanted her to leave. Alright then, she would. Anything to make him happy, to keep him from hating her all over again.

"Goodbye Sasuke-san," she said, already walking away. She sounded so forlorn that he almost moved to stop her, to tell her that it was alright and he didn't hate her. But he didn't. It wouldn't be right to give her false hope when there could be nothing between them. He was an avenger. He couldn't afford to love her.

"All this time," he whispered, "and you're still annoying. Sakura."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Note 1: Regarding when Sakura left any suffix off Sasuke's name before she ran off. She said that it could be almost as bad as if she had said "-kun," if Sasuke interpreted it wrong. In Japan, the lack of a suffix on a name indicates an intimate relationship. Sasuke could have interpreted the lack of his usual "-kun" as Sakura assuming that she was closer to him now and been insulted (because they are even less close than they were in part 1). Thankfully, however, he didn't notice. (A lack of suffix could also be an insult, if that intimacy hasn't been earned. Examples of this would be how Naruto leaves a suffix off of Sasuke's name, and how Sasuke leaves a suffix off the name of pretty much everyone he meets.)**

**Note 2: Regarding when Naruto decided that maybe he was fit to be Hokage after all. During manga chapter 307 (in the Sasuke and Sai arc, when Team Yamato meets up with Sasuke at Orochimaru's lair), Sasuke told Naruto, "Come to think of it, wasn't one of your dreams to become Hokage? If you have time to chase me around, you would have been better off training. Don't you think… Naruto?" Naruto's response was: "Like there's any chance someone who can't save a friend could become Hokage. Don't you think… Sasuke?" What I put was Naruto's allusion to that conversation.**

**Note 3: This will seem kinda random, but I just decided that I probably won't have Sai making many appearances in this story. I just don't really like him (sorry to anyone who does), so it's hard for me to write about him. Also, I've just never really been able to think of a way to put him in my stories. He may appear in the big battle at the end, but that will probably be it, and even there it will only be briefly. I thought I should say that so no one starts wondering why I'm not mentioning him.**


	10. Eternal Wondering

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Ten: Eternal Wondering

**Disclaimer:****How often do I have to say it? I don't own Naruto! **

**A/N: I am really sorry about how long updates are taking. There's an explanation at the bottom, along with a notice.**

* * *

Black eyes opened to the world as the morning's light fell upon them. For a second he almost thought it had all been only a dream; that he was still in Otogakure, yearning to return. And then he remembered.

A small, sad smile appeared on Sasuke's face as he recalled what Naruto had told him the previous day and the tears Sakura had shed over his harsh words. Naruto had, more or less, figured out that Sasuke's speech about the two of them being worthless to him was a lie, a depth of perception he surely had not possessed three years ago, but Sakura hadn't. He had acted as though he hated her during their Genin days; to her it must only seem natural that he would still hate her now. While she would expect him to rekindle his old friendship with Naruto, she had never had any significant bonds with him that could be rekindled. In her eyes, there was nothing he was expected to feel for her, nothing he would feel for her. And a part of him agreed that that was the way it should be. He still had his duty to avenge his clan; he couldn't do that if he was distracted by such insignificant things as having a lover to worry about the safety of.

"Sakura, don't you see?" he whispered to the air. "I can't love you; I can't feel anything for you. I shouldn't even have my friendship with Naruto. All that can come of those bonds is that the two of you will be hurt by Itachi so that he can try to get to me. Naruto already knows that I lie when I say that the two of you are worthless to me; that cannot be helped. But you, you haven't seen that yet. And that is how it must stay in order for you to be safe. Sakura… for your own sake, you must continue to mean nothing to me. That is how it should be. That is all that it has a right to be. You… mean nothing to me."

* * *

Naruto was already up when the sun arose, a huge grin plastered on his face as he thought about the night before. It had been incredible, absolutely incredible. Hinata had taken his declaration of love wonderfully. At first he'd been scared that she would be furious that he dared to say something like that to her, or that she cared about him as a friend only and he had just ruined the bonds they had. But it had been neither. Hinata's pale eyes had sparkled with joy and she had said yes, hugging him tightly as she sobbed with joy. They had spent the next few hours sitting in the training ground, hugging each other and watching as the stars appeared one by one upon the black velvet sky. He'd taken her home not too long after that. It had been Neji who greeted them at the gates of the Hyuuga Compound, to the new couple's alarm. But Hinata's older cousin had only smirked, telling Hinata that she had better get to bed before Hiashi noticed. The Hyuuga prodigy had told Naruto that he had done the same thing during his first few months of dating Tenten; he wasn't about to rat out Hinata now. She would be allowed to tell her father on her own, when she deemed that the time was right. Naruto smiled now. That Hyuuga Neji was a pretty cool guy after all.

This morning would be even better. Now that he'd gotten rid of the hard part of admitting his feelings, the rest was just snuggling and losing themselves in the joys of being a couple. A whole day of just sitting there, staring into Hinata's beautiful pearl-gray eyes. The mere prospect caused Naruto to close his eyes in pleasurable fantasy. A whole day of just him and Hinata, just him and Hinata, just him and Hinata…

Naruto's eyes flew open in alarm. He couldn't believe it, but he'd just forgotten Sasuke and Sakura! There was no way he could just leave them, not so soon after Sasuke came back to them, but he really, really wanted to spend today with Hinata. Sakura would never let him leave her all alone with Sasuke though; there was no way she would let him leave…

A metaphorical light bulb went off over his head. Naruto grinned evilly. _Sakura_ wouldn't let him leave, but that didn't mean Sasuke wouldn't. Of course, the Uchiha would not say yes at first. Naruto knew his best friend/rival, and he knew not to expect Sasuke to cover for him without any sort of recompense for the favor. But that didn't say anything about how Sasuke would respond to blackmail. It wouldn't be anything too awful of course, nothing serious. Just that Naruto could threaten to tell Sakura about Sasuke's feelings concerning her. (Of course, he would never actually do that because it would only hurt Sakura in the end and he would never hurt Sakura, but Sasuke didn't have to know about that.) It was brilliant, brilliant! The self-decided genius giggled at the thought of how Sasuke would react. Still in good cheer, he moved to prepare himself for the day, making extra certain that he didn't forget his clothes. (He still remembered the incident with Hinata two days ago, and had no desire to repeat it with Sasuke. The rumors that had sprung up after that accidental kiss they had shared a couple of years ago about the two of them being gay were just beginning to die down; there was no reason to rekindle them by showing up at Sasuke's house in his underwear.)

He was indeed decent when he emerged from his apartment several minutes later, a ramen noodle from his breakfast still hanging out of the corner of his mouth. He quickly slurped it up (no point in wasting good ramen!), grinning evilly as he basked in the glory of—finally!—having something over Sasuke. All his life, the Uchiha had been better than him at, well, everything, but finally he had something he could gloat about. Admittedly it wasn't an accomplishment so much as noticing the obvious, but it was still something!

Naruto locked his apartment door behind himself before turning and heading off in the direction of the Uchiha Compound.

* * *

It was a struggle for him not to gape at the sheer size of the Compound as he proceeded through it, heading toward where he had been told Sasuke's house was. He'd never actually been there before, but Sakura had, and she'd told him which of the many houses here belonged to Sasuke's parents when he was younger. (The only reason _she'd_ known was because she'd gone there after Sasuke left the village, hoping to find something that would explain to her some of the mysteries of the last survivor of the Uchiha.) According to Tsunade, Sasuke had moved back into his parents' old home upon returning to the village, instead of renting an apartment like he'd done after the Uchiha Clan Massacre, because no one had been willing to have a traitor for their tenant.

_There are so many houses though, and all of them look a heck of a lot bigger than my apartment. How am I supposed to find "the big house" when they all look big?!_ He stopped dead in his tracks. _Whoa._ The house in front of him was definitely the right one. 'Big' really was the only word to describe it. While it was only one story high, it extended far to the side in both directions, and Naruto could see a rather large garden behind it. _Sasuke's family must have been really rich to afford a place like this. It's practically a mansion! I wonder why he never lived here after his family was killed. I'll have to ask him sometime._

He wasted no further time on the thought however. With the single-mindedness that had helped him to become the ninja he was today, Naruto returned his attention to the matter which had brought him here.

"Oi! Teme!" he shouted, banging his fist on Sasuke's front door. "Teme! Open up! TEME!!" He fell forward as the door suddenly slid open, landing in an undignified heap on the floor.

"Hn, Dobe." Naruto lifted his eyes from the ground in front of him, traveling upward until his gaze came to rest on the slightly annoyed face of the last survivor of the once-great Uchiha Clan.

"Sasuke!" he cried in shock, leaping to his feet. "You're here!" Sasuke being Sasuke, he skipped the explanation that this was _his_ house, who else did Naruto expect to be here, and just glared.

"Why are you truing to bash my door in?" the Uchiha asked, irritated.

"I didn't think you'd be up yet, so I was knocking loudly to wake you up," Naruto explained. Only Uzumaki Naruto would call 'knocking' what Sasuke had more accurately dubbed 'trying to bash my door in.'

"Of course I was awake, Naruto. You interrupted my morning training."_Training?_ Naruto wondered. _At this hour? It can't be after seven! And he's not even breathing hard! He's like some kind of super human…_ This caused a brief mental shudder as Naruto remembered their conversation a little more than a month ago; where Sasuke had told him that the two of them were no longer human. Had he been right after all? There was no way that a normal person could have done that.

Sasuke smirked inside his head as some of Naruto's confusion made its way onto his face, despite his obvious attempts to keep it hidden. His training wasn't so much the result of his inhuman abilities, but rather the result of what had happened earlier that morning. His contemplation of his feelings for Sakura had awoken uncomfortable feelings inside of him, things known to most people as _emotions_. However, to Uchiha Sasuke, they were known as the-things-I-must-renounce-in-order-to-gain-the-strength-to-kill-_that-man_. He had had experience with them before, during his first few days in Otogakure, when he had still been unable to fully renounce his attachments to his childhood home. He had done then what he did now: train. Forcing his body to the limits of its ability tired him out, exhausting him so that his mind did not have the strength left to dwell on uncomfortable things. Through this he had grown strong. It was how he had managed to survive after the massacre of his clan, leaving the village, and now returning to it.

"W-well," Naruto began, still a little awed by the knowledge that Sasuke (yet again) could do something he couldn't, "I came here to… to… ask a favor." The last part came out in a rush. Even after more than three years of considering the other man to be his best friend, begging to Sasuke was still something that required tremendous effort from Naruto. It was almost a miracle that he'd been able to force the words out at all.

The Uchiha appeared just as amazed at his words, a rare reaction to get from Sasuke.

"A favor," he repeated, attempting to return his facial features to their usual mask of indifference. "What kind of favor?" Naruto blushed.

"Well Sakura-chan wanted us to spend the day together, as a team, but I kind of… er… wanted to spend the day… with Hinata-chan," the blond finished, rubbing the back of his head as he usually did when he was feeling embarrassed or awkward. Sasuke stared impassively back at him, wordlessly asking what this had do to with him. "Well, Sakura-chan wouldn't just let me go off alone," Naruto continued, "not so soon after you returned anyway, so I was… er… hoping that you would… um, cover for me with Sakura-chan?" His eyes turned pleading on the last bit. Sasuke smirked; he enjoyed watching Naruto squirm.

"And what makes you think I would do that, Dobe?" Naruto sighed. Well, he had tried (admittedly not very hard). Now that the hard part of stating what he wanted was out of the way, he got to the fun part. A sly grin spread across his face. It felt so good to finally be the one who was one step ahead of Sasuke, instead of the other way around like it usually was.

"'Cause teme, otherwise I'll tell Sakura-chan you're in love with her." Sasuke froze.

"You wouldn't," he said quietly.

"'Course I would, teme," his best friend lied.

"You wouldn't," Sasuke repeated. "You'd hurt Sakura as well." He sounded almost desperate, something that Sasuke never allowed from himself. Naruto almost reconsidered doing this to him. Then he remembered every time Sasuke had done something to make him look bad during their Genin days. There were a lot of times. The Uchiha deserved for someone to finally get even with him.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad for Sakura after all. She'd at least know that Sasuke finally loved her back. Naruto was sure that she still loved him. She'd probably understand that he couldn't say that he loved her though, because of his whole fear that Itachi would try to hurt her to get to Sasuke. Heck, she might even find it sweet and love him even more for it. Actually, it probably wouldn't hurt her at all if Naruto told her.

His conscience cleared, Naruto said his decision.

"I would."

His face told Sasuke he wasn't kidding. Naruto's jaw was set, his breathing was natural, and there was no guilty gleam in his eye. He would seriously tell Sakura of Sasuke's feelings for her unless the Uchiha cooperated with Naruto now. Sometimes he really hated that dobe.

"Fine," he all but spat, his eyes smoldering with rage.

"Yetta!" Naruto cried, punching the air with enthusiasm. "I finally beat teme at something! Did you hear that teme? I finally beat you!"

"Dobe," Sasuke hissed from behind clenched teeth. Naruto ignored him, continuing to shout his victory. "Dobe." His voice contained a bit more annoyance this time. Once again however, Naruto appeared either to not have heard him or to have not cared to obey. Quick as a flash Sasuke's fist struck out, catching Naruto in the gut. The blond Jinchuuriki fell once again onto the wooden boards of Sasuke's floor. Sasuke stood over him, glaring down at his friend.

"Next time don't gloat so much." There was only coldness in Sasuke's eyes. Naruto wondered if he really had gone too far; if he had pushed Sasuke away, losing him forever. The mere idea terrified him.

"Teme," he whispered, his tone pleading, "please don't leave. I'm sorry Sasuke, just please, please, don't leave again. I-I don't want you to go." _Leave?_ Sasuke thought, startled. _Naruto, what are you thinking? I may be angry, but I would never leave… you two… ever again. You're… my…_

"Hn, Dobe," he said aloud, hitting Naruto lightly on the head before he was able to finish his thought. That thought… it was something that he wasn't allowed to say. Not yet. Not while Itachi still lived. Until he had completed his duty to his clan, saying what he had wished to say in regard to Naruto and Sakura would remain a worse betrayal that what Itachi had done. He continued: "I would never leave. Sure, you piss me off, but that's not something to leave the village over. Besides, if I stay here, I get a chance to fight_ him_ soon. No matter how mad I am at you, I can't leave if it would mean losing that opportunity." Naruto grinned.

"For a second there, I was really afraid I was gonna lose you, teme." Sasuke smirked, extending his arm to help Naruto to his feet. The ever-hyperactive ninja leapt up, pausing to say one last thing to Sasuke before leaving.

"Remember teme, don't think of this as me abandoning you. Think of it as me setting you up on a date with Sakura-chan." He ducked as he finished speaking, though not quickly enough to avoid Sasuke's slap.

The Naruto that left the Uchiha Compound shortly after was sporting a lump on his head the size of a baseball.

* * *

Sakura had woken up at the crack of dawn, eager to collect Naruto and Sasuke and begin another day of what she liked to call Team Seven Re-Bonding, only to notice the massive number of chores she'd neglected to do lately. Take out the trash, wash the dishes, clean up the massive piles of scrolls hiding her kitchen table, the list went on and on. She sighed and began to work on the dishes first. Sometimes she regretted her decision to move out of her parents' house in favor of renting her own apartment.

After about an hour of uninterrupted work, Sakura heard someone knocking on her door. Without even bothering to wonder who it was, she reached for her key on the peg in the wall. After a moment of fumbling to get the key into the lock, she managed to unlock the door, pulling it open to reveal a sight that almost made her question her sanity. Standing in front of her door, clearly having sought her out and not just casually running into her somewhere, was Uchiha Sasuke.

There were other times when she was grateful that she had decided to move out of her parents' house. They had known about her crush on Sasuke during her days at the Academy and as a Genin. If they saw him here, her mother would probably start wondering if the two of them were dating, and her father would probably say something very rude to Sasuke for hurting her by leaving. Neither was something she particularly wanted to have to deal with at the moment.

"Sakura," Sasuke addressed her. Sakura struggled to keep a level head, telling herself that he wasn't here for a date and she better not embarrass herself by asking for one. She was sixteen years old for Kami's sake; she should have grown up enough to tell when a boy was absolutely not interested in her in any way.

"Hello Sasuke-san," she replied smoothly, pleasing herself with her talent at keeping any trace of her thoughts from becoming evident to Sasuke. "What brings you here?"

"Naruto," he replied, grimacing. "He thought it would be good for the two of us to spend some time alone, without him. At least, that's the excuse he's using. Really he just wants to spend the day alone with Hinata." Hey, Naruto had never said anything about not telling Sakura the real reason why he wouldn't be there.

For her part, Sakura's reaction was just how Naruto had anticipated. She was close to murdering the blond shinobi. It wasn't that she didn't think he deserved some time with Hinata and that Hinata definitely deserved some time alone with him after all these years. It was that their doing so required her being left alone with Sasuke. _Her_ being left alone with _Sasuke_. One of the worst possible things that could happen! Yes, she was still madly in love with him and yes, she would kill for a date with him. The problem was that he didn't feel the same way. If she ever wanted to have any sort of bond with Sasuke, she had to work on realizing that simple fact. The best way to accomplish this wouldn't be to suddenly stick her in a situation where the two of them were alone and everyone around them probably thought that they _were_ on a date. This was a nightmare.

Out loud she said: "Oh, alright."

"Where are we going?" Sasuke asked. It wasn't so much a question as an instruction for her to prepare some agenda because he didn't care enough to.

_Think Sakura, think!_ She screamed at herself furiously. Where could they go? Where wouldn't seem like a date, but would still be an enjoyable place to go? Inspiration appeared like a light bulb going off in her brain.

"I was thinking," she began, "that we could go to visit Ino-chan. I haven't seen her in a while with all the training I've been doing. She's probably dying of boredom looking after the flower shop all by herself." She had added the bit about her training getting in the way in the hope of getting some reaction from Sasuke's (possibly nonexistent) conscience. He knew very well that all the training she had been doing was in the hope of saving him. Maybe knowing that it had gotten in the way of her personal life would make him more likely to say yes to this. She didn't think he had forgotten yet that Yamanaka Ino had been one of the co-presidents of the Uchiha Sasuke-kun Fangirl Association of Konoha (or USFAK for short) during their younger years. Frankly, it would probably take all the incentives she could get to convince him to come within 500 meters of the girl.

His dour expression told her that he hadn't forgotten, and was in no way going to see Ino today.

"Don't worry Sasuke-san, Ino's not interested in asking you out anymore. She's much too busy fighting with Temari over who gets Shikamaru. It'll be fine, trust me." He didn't look very convinced, but at least he didn't struggle when she grabbed his arm and physically dragged him in the direction of the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Sakura was glad for this. She really needed to see Ino, and a rebellious Sasuke would make that a lot more difficult. Hopefully her best friend would have the solution for her problem. After all, if anyone could give good advice on how to deal with boys and crushes, it was Yamanaka Ino.

* * *

Ino was sitting behind the cash register in her parents' flower shop, reading a book, when the bell tinkled to indicate that someone had entered the shop. She tore her eyes from the page to see who it was.

"Forehead!" she cried eagerly upon recognizing Sakura's distinctive pink hair. The blonde girl leapt up from her chair and dashed around the counter, hugging her best friend enthusiastically. "It's been forever since I've seen you. My mom was beginning to wonder if we'd had a fight or something."

"Of course we didn't Ino Pig," Sakura replied, hugging her back. "I've just been so busy training that I haven't had time to stop by."

"I know that, but try telling it to your mother," Ino said, rolling her eyes. "So why'd you finally stop by?" Sakura blushed a little at her friend's words.

"Well, um, actually Ino, I was wondering if you could help me with something," she said quietly.

"What?" Ino asked, ready to help with whatever new problem Sakura was having.

The bell tinkled again, causing both kunoichi to look up to see who it was. Standing in the doorway of the Yamanaka Flower Shop, framed by the light of the morning sun outside, was Uchiha Sasuke.

"Well, um," Sakura said to Ino quietly, "Sasuke-san returned."

There were very few times in Yamanaka Ino's life where she had actually wanted to kill someone. The first had been when the Oto-nin had hurt Sakura in the Forest of Death and Team Ten had been forced to step in to prevent her from being killed. The second had been after she had heard that Asuma was killed by Hidan. The third was right now. To think, after all Sasuke had done to Sakura, he had the nerve to stand here now, as though he was their equal and not the scum of the earth.

Sakura noticed that Ino's temper was rising. Her best friend's fists began to clench, digging the fingers painfully into Sakura's flesh, and she tensed as though preparing to launch herself at Sasuke.

"Ino-chan, it's okay," she whispered, adding the affectionate suffix to Ino's name in hope of calming her down. "Sasuke-san is here because I asked him to be. He's a friend." Ino did not appear to think so.

"Sakura, how can you say that?!" she cried, not bothering to keep her voice low. "After what he did to you, how can you say that he's a friend?!" Her expression was one that brought to mind the phrase "if looks could kill."

Sasuke appeared unaffected. "I'd appreciate it if you stopped talking about me like I wasn't here," he informed Ino nonchalantly. The blonde kunoichi glared at him. Calmly, yet with a grip like iron, she removed Sakura's arms from their embrace. Still deadly calm, she walked forward, crossing the three meters of floor space separating her from Sasuke. She halted a foot from him, glaring at him while he stared impassively back. Then, without further ado, Yamanaka Ino punched Uchiha Sasuke in the gut.

The blow must have taken him by surprise, because Sasuke did not block it. Ino hit him squarely just below his rib cage, knocking him to the ground. He coughed and a few red drops of blood fell on the floor.

"Listen to me," Ino said in a voice as cold as ice. "You, Uchiha Sasuke, are a complete and utter asshole. You left the village, knocked out my best friend, and tried to kill Naruto on the way out. You were gone for _three friggin' years_, for the duration of which you were associated with one of the enemies of the village. During that time, you attempted to kill Sakura once and Naruto twice. And now, you have the _nerve_ to come back here and act like nothing happened?! You just expect for everyone to be so happy that the precious Uchiha has returned to the village and forget all the crimes you committed against us?! Sakura may have forgiven you, and Naruto may have forgiven you as well, but to me, you will always be the bastard who broke my best friend's heart! Get out of my store." Her voice had risen progressively during the speech, though it had returned to deadly calm for the last sentence. Sakura almost quivered. She had never seen Ino this mad. Sasuke appeared to be at least a little uneasy as well. He gave Ino a look of almost equal hatred before exiting the shop.

"Sakura," he said from just outside the doorway, not bothering to turn back around and look at her, "I'm going. Don't expect me to wait up for you."

"Sasuke-ku—san," she cried in anguish. **(A/N: The reason Sakura called him -ku—san was because she almost called him 'Sasuke-kun,' but changed so that she was saying –san halfway through. I wasn't sure if everyone would be able to tell that that's what I meant.) **He didn't respond. Without even pausing, Sasuke walked away from her again, just as he had done all those years ago. "Sasuke-kun," she whispered sadly, bowing her head as tears welled in her eyes.

"Sakura-chan," Ino addressed her. Her friend looked up, the tears beginning their silent flow down her face. "I'm sorry. But I don't want you to get hurt again. I'm not letting him just come back and act like nothing has changed. Things have changed, Sakura. It's been three years. That's too long for him to get away with it. If it had been just a week or so I would have let him return home, but not three years. A week says he realized the error of leaving and wants another chance. Three years says he decided to return because being here became more advantageous to him. I don't want you to give yourself false hope and let him hurt you again. I'm sorry Sakura-chan, but I can't just let that happen. You're my best friend." Sakura smiled sadly.

"Don't worry, Ino-chan. I won't let that happen again. I'm not the same weak little girl I was three years ago. I—I still love Sasuke-kun, but I know he doesn't feel the same way about me. I'm just going to settle for being allowed to be near him, and maybe someday he can come to care for me as a friend. That's all. I promise Ino-chan, I won't let myself hope for something that can never become reality." _Sakura-chan,_ Ino mentally cried out to her friend, _that's not fair. You know it's not. You deserve so much better than that. You shouldn't have to watch that bastard and help him through all his stupid little problems in the hope that he may begin to actually care for you as a friend. You deserve someone who will love you back and be kind to you._

"Don't worry Ino," Sakura said again. "I don't need someone to love me to make me happy. As long as Sasuke-kun is happy… then I'm happy." Apparently Ino's thoughts had made their way onto her face. Even with Sakura's reassurances, she still was not convinced that Sasuke didn't need to be punished. No one had the right to do that to her best friend. No one.

"So, um, Ino-chan," Sakura began in a falsely cheery voice, "how are things with you? Did Shikamaru wise up yet and notice that you and Temari are about to kill each other?" Ino blinked in surprise. How could Sakura just change the subject like that? Sasuke had just been acting like an ass to her, and here she was asking Ino about her love life. How could she take it so lightly? She loved him, and he treated her like dirt. How did she just brush that off as though it were a simple fact of life? "Ino-chan?" Sakura prompted. Ino decided to humor her.

"No, Shika's still clueless. It's amazing that he can be called a genius. That bitch Temari and I got into a fight during training the other day, and he and Chouji had to physically separate us. I gave her a black eye first though." She grinned evilly. Ino and Temari probably would have been good friends, had they not both fallen for the same lazy genius. Their rivalry was even worse than the one between Ino and Sakura had been; back then, neither girl had really loved Sasuke, they had just liked the hot, talented, and popular rich boy. Now, both Temari and Ino truly loved Shikamaru, and neither was prepared to give up the chance of being with him. The result was a rivalry that the citizens of Konoha had come to know and fear. To make it even worse, Temari had accepted a position as Suna's official ambassador, enabling her to virtually live in Konoha. Skirmishes such as this were common.

"Don't worry, Ino-chan," Sakura told her, "Temari-san is from Suna. Her younger brother, Gaara-sama, is Kazekage there. She can't abandon her village, even to be with Shikamaru, and he can't abandon his. The two of you will wind up together in the end."

"I'm not worried about that too much Sakura-chan. What I'm worried about is that they'll fall in love anyway, and then Shikamaru won't be able to love me."

"He won't, Ino." Sakura smiled. "You're beautiful, strong, talented, and you've been on his team since you were Genin. Shikamaru will definitely fall in love with you in the end."

"Do you really think so?" Ino asked, a trace of desperation in her voice. Sakura smiled.

"I know so."

"Thanks Sakura-chan. You're a good friend."

* * *

Sasuke stomped irritably through the streets of Konoha, kicking a pebble. That meeting with Ino was exactly the kind of thing he had hoped to avoid. He probably would have been able to deal with it if she had remained a devoted fangirl even after all this time. He knew how to deal with fangirls; having to make use of that knowledge once again wouldn't kill him. What he wasn't able to deal with was Ino being the very person who would remind him what it was he had done when he left. Sakura was much too anxious to avoid conflicts for her to confront him about how much his action had hurt her. But her best friend, the one who had had to watch her cry and then try to help wipe her tears? _She_ was completely fine with telling him.

It wasn't that he hadn't known what he was doing when he left. Her tearful pleas to stay had been more than enough to show him what leaving would do to her. No, it was that he had decided that the benefits of leaving were greater than the pain she and Naruto would have to feel. That didn't mean that she hadn't been hurt.

Sasuke kicked the pebble again, grimacing. He supposed he should be grateful to Ino. She was, after all, serving as the conscience he so desperately needed in regard to this particular event. It was a good thing that _someone_ was holding him responsible for his choices. That didn't make him any less irritable.

He drew back his leg and kicked the pebble forcefully, like a soccer ball, attempting to relieve some of his anger by taking it out on the innocent little rock. At that moment more than ever, he wished it hadn't happened. He wished he had never joined Orochimaru, he wished Itachi had never killed the clan, he wished it all could just be undone, and he could be just a normal kid, one who didn't have to worry about avenging his dead family or having the ones he loved killed before his helpless eyes. He wished he could tell Naruto and Sakura what they really meant to him.

A crow flew over his head.

"A fool, a fool," it cried. **(See note 1)**

_Yeah,_ he thought bitterly, _that's me._

* * *

Surrounding the village of Konoha, there is a wall. This wall is one of many steps taken to ensure the protection of the village against enemy assault. Invaders find it nearly impossible to break through this fortified wall and make it into the village proper. The wall has another function, however. It also provides a very convenient vantage point from which the activities of the villagers can be observed. Uchiha Itachi chose to use it for the second purpose.

He saw the black haired figure walking slowly through the village, heading toward the Uchiha Compound. Even with his poor eyesight and the great height upon which he stood, he could identify that figure as clearly as though the boy stood beside him.

_Foolish little brother. So you've returned after all. I always knew you would. You've had a certain… attachment to this village, even when you claimed to have left it behind in favor of joining Orochimaru. I wonder: have you gotten stronger at last? You killed the Sannin, but he was weak, and his arrogance left him vulnerable to attacks. Did you accomplish anything in three years? Or was it all for nothing?_ He smirked. _We'll soon find out, one way or the other._

"Itachi!" The Uchiha looked up at the sound of his name, identifying the person by their voice even before they came into view. Hoshigaki Kisame, the one of the Seven Shinobi Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist and half-shark-half-human-fish-thing approached his Akatsuki partner, his sword for once absent. "Come on, Itachi. You'll have plenty of time to look at the village tomorrow when we invade. Madara wants you to rest in the mean time. He says he doesn't want you tired for the Uchiha Clan's big day." **(A/N: Warning, spoiler for Naruto manga chapter 399. I had to put that in here. It really would make sense if Madara wanted to invade Konoha so that the Uchiha could finally dominate the Senjuu. It could be his personal revenge for how they were treated under the Hokages' reign.)**

"I'll be there soon, Kisame," Itachi replied. He turned his eyes back to the village for one last look at his childhood home. _Foolish little brother… try not to die tomorrow._

* * *

**Notice: The next chapter may take a while to come out. Since it's the end of the school year, there's a lot of stuff happening with my school, so I'll be busy. Updates will probably be occurring once a week for a while. The story has gotten a bit harder for me to write as well, so there's an added complication. Once school ends and summer break begins I'll probably be able to update sooner, so hopefully this will be only a temporary measure. I apologize for this once again, but I'd rather take longer to write the chapters than produce badly written material. **

**Poll (contains references to spoilers): Who wants me to make Madara evil in this story? I ask because I am now wondering if he really is all that evil after what we heard in the last manga chapter. (It's somewhat annoying how Orochimaru is the only character in the series that is actually pure evil.) The alternative is Pein being evil. It honestly doesn't matter which, I just want to know who you guys (and girls) would prefer to have be evil.**

**Note 1: The thing with the crow was a reference to something the anime added during the filler saga. There was this crow that kept reappearing and calling 'a fool, a fool.' It also made an appearance during one of the earlier episodes of Shippuuden. I just wanted to say that so people don't start wondering what the heck I put the stupid crow in for.**

**Note 2: I apologize for Ino's language. She's really ticked off at Sasuke at the moment, so she's not choosing to describe him in the most flattering terms. I just felt the need to apologize because that is a lot more swearing than I usually put in writing, and I wanted to make sure that I didn't offend anyone.**

**Note 3: I would also like to apologize for the lack of a description of Naruto and Hinata's date in here. I just couldn't really find a good place to fit it into this chapter. (If anyone can think of a place, please feel free to tell me and I will try to come up with something.) So, just imagine whatever you want them to have done together. (Probably Ichiraku ramen—this is Uzumaki Naruto after all.)**


	11. Eternal Battles

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Eleven: Eternal Battles

**Disclaimer: I still do not own Naruto.**

**A/N: Sorry that there wasn't an update on Saturday, even though I somewhat promised it in the last chapter. I had a camp that I'd forgotten I had to go to all weekend, and I didn't have internet access from there. I am really sorry about that, but it couldn't be helped. The next update will also probably take longer than a week, because the story has now gotten to the big final battle and battle scenes are really hard for me to write. Once again I am sorry.**

**Other A/N: I actually had this chapter finished yesterday, but I couldn't post it due to a submission error on the site.**

**Warning: Spoilers for Naruto manga chapter 399. The plot of the story from now on will have a lot of references to the events in that chapter. If you have not read it yet, I encourage you to (it was really good), or you may not understand everything I mention here.**

* * *

Madara could sense Itachi's emotionally troubled state as soon as the elder Uchiha brother arrived. He narrowed his eyes in annoyance. Sentiment was not something he usually had to deal with when he worked with Itachi, and the fact that it had appeared now, of all times, did not put him in a very good mood. The Uchiha clan's restoration to their former glory was almost at hand. Itachi could not afford to feel anything that might compromise his abilities.

"Itachi." The former Uchiha heir lifted his head so that his charcoal black eyes met Madara's single Sharingan-red one. Itachi's eyes contained no trace of the anticipation or righteous fury Madara had hoped to find. Instead, there was only the same emptiness that was all he could ever find when looking into the Uchiha prodigy's eyes. "You know your task. Do not allow your emotions to get in the way of that. If it becomes necessary, you little brother will have to die tomorrow. You know that."

"I do, Madara-sama," Itachi told him solemnly. "I do. I will lay down my life for the good of the clan." Madara held his gaze for a moment longer, his Sharingan searching for any trace that the other was lying. Finding none, he decided that Itachi was indeed serious.

"Kisame," he addressed the other man present, still not averting his stare from Itachi's dark orbs. Kisame grunted to show he was listening. "Ready the others. We attack tonight."

It may have only been a trick of the light, but Madara thought he saw a flicker of anguish appear in Itachi's eyes at his words. He blinked his single eye, and it had gone.

* * *

Darkness was just falling one the village of Konohagakure, the final traces of light from the already set sun beginning to fade from the western sky. The soft twilight gave the scene a feeling of fragility, as though the smallest breath of wind could shatter that peaceful village into tiny, irreparable fragments.

This atmosphere of vulnerability struck Kakashi forcefully as he proceeded through the streets in the direction of the Hokage Tower. He was reporting to Tsunade after the successful completion of the solo A-rank mission that had kept him away from his home for the last two weeks. The most recent news he had received regarding the state of the village had been the word of the impending Akatsuki invasion, nearly three weeks ago now, and he was anxious for further news regarding that. Thankfully, it appeared that the scheduled attack had not occurred during his absence, and he would be allowed to be there alongside his comrades to fight for his home when that time came.

"A small blessing," he muttered, "but how long can the reprieve last? Sooner or later, they will come. And then we will have to fight."

The village's citizens had begun to move indoors with the coming of night, leaving the streets nearly deserted. None of the few faces still outside were shinobi, or at least none familiar to Kakashi. Most of the higher ranking ninja were either patrolling for signs of the impending invasion force or asleep in their beds. It was only the half-insane ones, like Gai and Lee, who stayed out half the night training when they might be needed at any time to fight off an invasion, and any like them were still at the training grounds. So it was no surprise to him that he didn't run into any of his former students on the streets that night.

It had grown fully dark by the time he arrived at the Hokage Tower. Kakashi sighed. After reporting to Tsunade to announce the completion of his mission, he would have to go home and fill out a report for his mission that would be due in a couple of days. All in all, he wouldn't be getting to sleep for another four hours at the very least, and he had already stayed up most of the previous night as well. Keeping that in mind, he performed the Shunshin no Jutsu **(Body Flicker Technique)** to teleport himself directly outside Tsunade's office. Upon his arrival, he knocked and waited for Tsunade's permission to enter. Once it was gained, he opened the door and stepped into the presence of the Godaime Hokage.

"Tsunade-sama," he addressed her, bowing slightly, "I am here to report the successful completion of my mission."

"Very good, Kakashi. You will not receive your next mission for some time. Until this threat of invasion has passed, all shinobi must remain within the village to protect against attack. It would not do for Akatsuki to get their hands on Naruto, especially not after he has grown so much. Losing him would be a great loss to our village."

"Yes, it would, Tsunade-sama," said Kakashi, feeling a small pang at the thought of his beloved pupil dying. Admittedly he had been closer to Sasuke during his time as the mentor of Team Seven, but, as he had once told Chiyo on their mission to rescue Gaara from Akatsuki, it was impossible for anyone to know Naruto and not become attached to him. That kid was like nothing he had ever seen before. Naruto just grew on you.

Kakashi thought he had been dismissed with the conclusion of Tsunade's explanation as to why he would not be receiving any more missions for a while. He turned towards the exit, the thought of his warm bed at home making him even more tired than he already was.

"Kakashi." Tsunade's voice caused the gray haired Jounin to pause. He tried to hide his disappointment. Apparently he wouldn't be getting to bed very soon after all. "There is one more thing. During your absence, something of great importance happened."

"And that would be?" It was a struggle to keep the impatience out of his voice, but Kakashi somehow managed it.

"Uchiha Sasuke has returned." There was a pause.

"S-Sasuke?" he stammered at last, not daring to believe his ears. Tsunade smiled.

"Yes, Sasuke."

"B-but his crimes against the village! Tsunade-sama, you can't expect me to believe that the Council of Elders were willing to let him off without at least a jail sentence." The blonde Hokage smiled again, though this time it was far more serious.

"They weren't. Uchiha Sasuke has entered into a bargain with the village of Konohagakure. He will be allowed to peacefully live in the village until the Akatsuki invade, and at that time he will be allowed to fight his elder brother. Once Itachi is dead, however, Sasuke will turn himself over to the village, without any complaints. Those bastards on the Council can do whatever they want to him, and they don't even have to try him properly." Kakashi looked grim. _Sasuke, what kind of reckless situation have you gotten yourself into now? You know there's no way the Council will ever let you off with anything short of death. Why are you giving up?_

"Kakashi, you must realize, Sasuke will not be allowed to die so easily. He is one of only three people left in the world who possess the Sharingan kekkei genkai, and the sole heir to the Uchiha clan. That in itself counts for something. Also, there's one other thing." Kakashi looked confused. His Hokage smirked. "Naruto," she answered simply. Kakashi smiled.

"If there's one thing that can save him it's that. Uzumaki Naruto. That kid could convince a mouse to attack a tiger if he put his mind to it. His determination is unequaled."

"It's what will make him a better Hokage than any before him when he takes that title someday." Kakashi nodded.

"Yeah. That kid… He makes you believe in yourself when there's no hope left. The funny thing is… he's usually right. If anyone can save Sasuke, he can."

"You're not wrong. But he won't be acting alone."

"Nani? Tsunade-sama, you don't mean…" She smirked.

"I do. I'll be helping him."

"NANI?!"

"Don't look so shocked, Kakashi. I hate those oafs on the Council—they're stubborn jerks who always act like they have a stick up their ass."

"Tsunade-sama!" Kakashi cried, shocked by the coarse language she was using to describe honorable members of the Hokage's Council.

"It's true. Besides that, I know what Naruto and Sakura are going through. Don't forget, I also lost my teammate when I was young. I haven't forgotten what it felt like. That pain is something I would never wish on my student and Naruto. And, there's something else."

"Something… else, Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi prompted.

"My grandfather, the Shodaime Hokage, never wanted what happened with Uchiha Madara to happen. He hoped that with the founding of the village, the Uchiha and the Senjuu could finally make peace with each other, and end this senseless bloodshed. That dream did not come true then, but there is still hope for it as long as there is one Uchiha left in the village. That hope would die along with Sasuke." She bowed her head. "I fear it may already be too late."

"Why would it be too late, Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked, not at all understanding what was going on. He knew some things about the Uchiha and Senjuu rivalry in the time before the founding of the village, everyone did, but while he possessed the Sharingan he was still not close enough to the Uchiha clan for them to have told him everything about their past. Tsunade lifted her head to look him in the eyes. Kakashi was surprised by the emotion he saw there. A mixture of regret and anger filled the amber eyes of the Godaime Hokage, overflowing in the form of tears. Framed by the glow of the moon as is shone through the window, she looked like a fallen angel.

"It was my grandfather's doing," she began in a solemn tone. Her words had a hollow, dead to them, filled with her grief over the mistakes of the past. She gazed out the window as she spoke, looking down upon her precious village and thinking of all the wrongs that it had committed during its sixty years of existence.

A small orange spark lit on the horizon, off to the left near the wall. Tsunade stared intently at it for a moment, disbelieving. There was no way that spark could be what she thought it was.

The spark grew, becoming a flare of brightness against the dark of background of the night. Kakashi followed his Hokage's eyes and saw it as well.

"No," he breathed.

The flare continued to grow, until it became a column of light almost as tall as one's pinky finger. It hovered at that size for a moment, flickering and undulating slightly like a flame. Then, it exploded.

There was no sound. Of course there wasn't. This was a shinobi-designed bomb—it had to be quiet so that its targets would not all be jolted awake by its noise. There was no sound, but there was force. When the smoke began to clear a couple of seconds later, every structure and building on that edge of the village had been reduced to ashes.

Tsunade turned around so that she faced Kakashi once more.

"This is what I was talking about. Uchiha's revenge has begun."

* * *

Shikamaru awoke to the sounds of a battle being waged outside of his room. He didn't even take the time to wonder who would have any reason to attack him. Four years of ninja experience had taught him to prepare to defend himself first, question why he was being attacked second. The normally-lazy genius leapt up, reaching for something to use as a weapon. His hand found the alarm clock beside his bed. **(A/N: Amazingly, Shikamaru **_**does**_** actually own an alarm clock. It appeared in one of the random bits of the Shippuuden anime that were added in to take up time during the episodes.) **Grasping that, he cautiously moved toward his door, lifting the clock over his head in preparation for his attack. He took a deep breath.

Suddenly he flung the door open, letting out a battle cry as he brought the clock down…

And he froze. Instead of the enemy shinobi he had anticipated finding, he saw only Ino and Temari. The two females were engaged in a brutal and unrefined fist fight on his floor. Neither one appeared to have heard his cry or noticed his presence.

"Back off you Suna bitch!" Ino snarled furiously. "I get to tell Shikamaru that Tsunade-sama wants to see him!"

"In your dreams, little girl!" Temari shouted back. "Tsunade assigned me to tell him!"

"But I'm his teammate!" Ino protested hotly. "I should tell him!"

"Pig!"

"Bitch!" Both girls simultaneously punched each other, resulting in each of them flying back several feet to forcefully strike the wall. In a flash the two of them had leapt back up, resuming their brutish physical attacks. By unspoken consent they had apparently both limited themselves to taijutsu, and very unprofessional taijutsu at that. Shikamaru watched them grapple with wide eyes.

"Troublesome women," he finally sighed, adding this even to the long list of "reasons why Ino and Temari are both insane." With another bored sigh, he decided that he might as well see what was so important that Tsunade had needed to summon him at such an ungodly hour. He inched toward the door, taking care not to get caught in the middle of Ino and Temari's catfight. He didn't even bother to look back as he exited the room, pausing only to gather the necessary chakra to perform the Shunshin no Jutsu. His body appeared to flicker as he vanished away into the night.

Ino and Temari had not noticed a thing.

* * *

Sasuke stood in the middle of the empty road somewhere within Uchiha Compound. It was empty, so empty. There were no signs that anyone else in the world even existed, no signs that he wasn't the last human being left alive, left all alone again.

_All alone._ The words echoed in his mind, reminding him of ancient sorrows and pain. Loneliness. Something even he was not immune to. He could handle physical pain with ease, and he had learned to deal with feelings of loss after his family's massacre, but loneliness was still something he had a hard time dealing with.

A small sound drifted across the still air, the sobbing voice of a teenage girl. _Sakura,_ his mind registered. _But, why is she crying?_ He wasted no further thought on the matter. Sasuke set off running in the direction of the sobs, determined to find Sakura. If she was here, then it meant he wasn't alone. Once he found her, he could find out what was wrong with her, and he could fix it. He wasn't alone…

He skidded to a halt in front of side road. Dimly his mind registered that it was the same side road in which he had seen the first of the corpses of the slaughtered Uchiha, all those years ago. Most of his mind however was occupied by the scene that met him.

Sakura was lying in the middle of the street, her face looking at his, bleeding. She had already lost a great deal of blood; it had flowed to cover the cement surrounding her, dying it a deep crimson. A sword protruded obscenely from her chest, buried almost to its hilt in her flesh.

"Sakura," he breathed, horrified that someone had done something like this to her.

"Sa…su…ke…kun…" She all but whispered his name, her voice fading almost to the point of inaudibility at the end. She appeared exhausted even by this simple action. It was plain that she didn't have long left.

In an instant he was beside her, his arms encircling her in a protective embrace.

"It will be alright, Sakura," he told her, picking her up as he did so. He held her bridal style, pressing her close against his body. He did not dare try to remove the sword. All ninja had all been taught not to remove a weapon once it lodged in their flesh; it was the only thing keeping them from losing even more blood, and removing it could inadvertently cause more damage than receiving the wound in the first place.

"Sa…suke-kun," she feebly said his name again, lifting one of her trembling hands to stroke his face. She smiled. "It's… too late… Sasuke…kun. I'm… dying."

"No," he told her fiercely, tears forming in his eyes. He was no longer Uchiha Sasuke, human ice cube who would rather die than display any signs of emotion. He was Uchiha Sasuke, the boy who had been forced to watch his family die when he was only seven years old and refused to let the same thing happen again. He hugged Sakura's body to him for a second. "You'll be alright Sakura. I'll get help, I promise." She smiled sadly again, her eyes telling him that it was hopeless; that she would die anyway. He narrowed his eyes, refusing to allow that to happen, before running off in the direction of the main part of the village.

He carried his burden through the ominously empty streets of the Uchiha Compound, frantically searching for someone, anyone, who could help him. Sakura's breathing was getting shallower; his time was running out. He entered the village proper, still combing the streets intently with his gaze in the hope of finding someone. They remained ominously deserted. Sakura coughed, red droplets of her blood coming up to dot the pale skin of her face. Where was everyone? She couldn't hold out forever.

Sasuke turned in the direction of the hospital, hoping that Sakura had enough time left for him to make it there. From the look of things, she didn't. He doubled his speed, drawing upon reserves of energy he didn't know he possessed. Still, there was no one around whom he could call upon to help him.

"Sa…su…ke…kun." He looked down at the girl in his arms, not pausing in his frantic dash for even a second. "It's… no good… You… can't do… anything… I'm… already… too far… gone… I'm… going to… die."

"No," he whispered again, frantic in his fear of losing her too. "No, Sakura you can't!"

"Goodbye Sasuke…kun," her voice faded away. She was barely breathing at all now. Even though he held tightly against him, he could barely feel any movement as she inhaled and exhaled. Each breath grew fainter and fainter, until he could feel them no more. He looked down, numbness beginning to spread from the hole in his chest where his heart lay.

"Sakura," he whispered, a single tear falling from his eye to land on her cold, unnaturally pale cheek. Already her body was losing its warmth.

He rounded a corner, his eyes landing on what he had wanted so desperately to find a few minutes ago. Someone else stood on this road, someone who could have helped him to save Sakura had he found them just a minute sooner. Their back was to him at the moment, which was a good thing. If they weren't facing him, then they couldn't see the agonized expression of guilt that had made its way onto the usually stoic Uchiha's face.

Through the numb haze that he begun to spread over his vision, he identified the figure. That posture, the way the moonlight landed on their blond hair, the edges of whisker marks that could barely be glimpsed on their cheeks.

"Naruto," he called out to the other, his voice sounding hollow even to his own ears. Naruto turned to face him, his expression changing from curiosity to horror as his eyes fell on Sasuke's pitiful burden.

"Sakura-chan," he breathed, tears appearing in his eyes. Sasuke felt that awful guilt wrenching at his heart again at the pain in Naruto's voice. She would still be alive if he had been quicker.

"Teme," Naruto growled at Sasuke, his voice suddenly turned ferocious. There was no trace of Naruto's usual mocking affection in the name. The normally carefree blond was serious. Sasuke took a step back, startled by his friend's sudden change in attitude. "This is your fault. If you hadn't been so weak, she would still be alive." Sasuke's expression hardened in defiance. He knew it was his fault already. Naruto had no right to blame him when he was already punishing himself enough.

"Shut up Dobe. This doesn't concern you."

"Yes it does, _teme._ Sakura-chan means more to me than she ever did to you. Do you think that just because I don't have a childish crush on her anymore it means I've stopped caring about her? Well you're wrong. Sakura-chan is like my sister, which is more that I can say you've ever cared for her. Honestly, she could have liked any body: Neji, Shino, Kiba, Fuzzy Brows. Any one of them would have treated her better than you did. _They_ would have at least had the decency not to leave her on that stinkin' bench. But not you. Oh no, not the great Uchiha Sasuke. You knocked her out, and you left her hurt, and then, once she was finally beginning to move on, you came back. And of course things were right back where you left off. You just have to break her heart, don't you teme? She trusts you and forgives you and gives you a home to come back to, and you let her die. You'd think you would be able to handle that one thing, what with you being such an amazing ninja, but you can't. You can't ever do anything that isn't for yourself. You don't deserve Sakura-chan." Naruto's words struck home. Every one of them, every last one, was completely true. He didn't deserve her. Sakura had given her heart, and he had broken it, and she had cared enough to give it back to him again. And he had let her die.

"You're despicable, teme. She deserves better than you, Sasuke. Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke…"

"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke!" Sasuke jolted upright, a cold sweat drenching his body. His head hit something hard, causing him to close his eyes with a wince and let out a mild curse.

"Gomen, Sasuke-kun," Sakura's voice came from above him. He opened his eyes to stare into her sea green ones.

"Sakura?" he asked in confusion. He noticed a red mark on her forehead, and realized what it must have been that he hit his head on.

"You were having a nightmare, Sasuke-kun," she told him. "I'm sorry if I startled you, but I couldn't bear to let you suffer like that."

"Hn," he replied, not trusting himself to speak lest he say something he shouldn't, something that would mention how glad he was that she wasn't dead, and how sorry he was for how he treated her and…

"Anou, Tsunade-shishou sent me to fetch you," Sakura said, fiddling with her hands like Hinata had done so often when she was nervous. "The-there's been an attack and we need all able-bodied shinobi to fight it off."

"An attack? The Akatsuki one?" She nodded. "Is my brother there?" Another nod. Sasuke swore. Without even caring about Sakura's presence, he stood up, shoving his blankets off himself and reaching for his clothes. He didn't notice the heady blush spreading over Sakura's face. Sasuke didn't wear very much when he slept, and Sakura was having a hard time preventing her eyes from traveling where they shouldn't.

She didn't have long to suffer though. In an astonishingly short amount of time Sasuke had donned all of his clothes, located his katana and kunai pouch and was heading for the door. She scrambled to keep up with him, reaching for a kunai from her own pouch. From what Tsunade had told her before sending her to fetch Sasuke, the invasion had been massive, far larger than just the six remaining Akatsuki members. Jiraiya had mentioned that the Akatsuki leader, Pein, had conquered Amegakure village; the additional shinobi probably came from there. She shuddered. Konoha was strong, but how long could they last against an entire village's worth of enemy ninja, plus six dangerous criminals who would have been quite a challenge by themselves? It seemed that the village may only have a short time left before they were completely overrun.

"Sakura, what are our orders?" Sasuke asked her, forcing her to return her attention to the task of the moment.

"We're supposed to report to Tsunade-shishou first; she'll give us our exact orders. The basic direction was to strike back at the enemy, holding them off by any means necessary. If anyone catches sight of your brother, they'll tell us and you can go fight him. Some of the others are evacuating the civilians, so we won't have to worry about dealing with them." Sasuke nodded to show he had understood. The two shinobi then performed the Shunshin no Jutsu, teleporting themselves to the Hokage's office to receive their orders.

The ninja of Konoha would not go down without a fight.

* * *

Naruto narrowed his eyes in concentration as he dashed towards the Hokage Tower. Unlike his friends, it had never crossed his mind to use the Shunshin no Jutsu to teleport there after Tsunade summoned him, and as a result he was running late. He had heard the distant sounds of the battle being waged near the walls; he knew something was going on. He needed to get to Tsunade _now_, so that he could receive his orders and fight to protect his village. He wanted to be Hokage someday, and the Hokage had to protect the village or die trying!

Naruto skidded around one last corner and the Tower was in view. He dashed up the outdoor staircase, skipping half the steps in his haste to reach the top, and entered the building, practically sprinting the rest of the way Tsunade's office. Without even bothering to knock, Naruto threw open the door to the Hokage's office.

"Tsunade-baa-chan!" he cried as he panted. The blonde Hokage turned to look at him, as did the two other people in the room.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked from in front of the Hokage's desk, a little amazed by his foolishness. Really, if he had just thought to use a simple jutsu, he could have received his orders and left already. The chakra drain would have been even less noticeable to him than it was to her and Sasuke and he wouldn't have had to deal with the physical strain he was now suffering from.

"Sakura-chan, Teme!" the blonde addressed them, still panting. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like we're doing Dobe?" Sasuke retorted, made even more irritable than usual from the stress of knowing that his brother was nearby but not being able to do anything about it. "We're waiting for our orders." Naruto gaped.

"_You're_ waiting for _orders_? What happened to 'I live to kill that guy; nothing can divert me from that path'? Since when do you care what you're supposed to be doing when Itachi is concerned?" Though Naruto's tone was one of incredulous teasing, there was also a bitter edge to the questions. Sasuke had betrayed him and Sakura in order to pursue his quest for vengeance. Now he was waiting for permission to continue with that very quest. To Naruto, this was a personal insult.

Apparently Sasuke knew that. He winced.

"What's done is done, Naruto. I can't change the past. But Itachi hasn't been sighted yet. I can't attack him if I don't know where he even is. In the mean time, if I attack his subordinates, there are less people between me and him."

"So then… you're working with us, Teme?" Sasuke nodded. "Yetta!" Naruto cried, punching the air. "Teme's back! The awesome power of Team Seven strikes again!"

"Naruto," Sasuke addressed him.

"Yeah?"

"Never say that again." Sasuke couldn't help but notice out of the corner of his eye that Sakura was smiling. Even if it was just for the moment, it seemed now that everything was back to how it used to be. For Sakura, that was all she ever wanted. After Sasuke left, she had awakened from her childish fantasies of him realizing his deep feelings for her and the two of them having a large and glamorous wedding. That was the foolish wish of a child, not of a kunoichi warrior. No, what she had really wanted all that time had been for him to return. She had wanted to have Sasuke back by her side; to know that he was nearby and he was safe. That was all.

Sasuke saw the smile. He didn't know the full reason for it, but he knew that she was happy. He felt an answering feeling of pleasure from his own heart. The moment he recognized it, he buried the emotion. It should not cause him such intense joy to know that Sakura was happy. She was his ex-teammate, nothing more. Maybe, if he had not had his revenge and then his execution to worry about, they could have been friends. Maybe that could have happened in another universe, one where Itachi hadn't killed their clan. But here, she had to mean nothing to him. Tonight, his mission was revenge. He was a ninja. A ninja did not let personal feelings distract him from the mission.

"Squad Seven," Tsunade addressed the three of them, putting an end to Sasuke's thoughts. "Your team is to aid the ninja on the front lines. Within minutes of the Akatsuki bomb going off on the northeastern edge of the village, the ANBU were deployed to that area to head off the attack. They are currently under furious assault by a large force of Ame-nin under the command of the Akatsuki leader, Pein." No point in mentioning that Pein was not really the commander of the attack; that the real enemy was Madara, one of Sasuke's own kin. She had no idea how the young Uchiha would respond to that information, and with any luck he would not need to see his relative at all. "The three of you are to serve as the relief force to rescue them."

"Shishou," Sakura cut in, "do you mean that we're the entire relief force? I know Sasuke and Naruto are powerful, but we're only three people, we can't do that much!" Tsunade folded her hands and smirked, much like Sasuke had had a habit of doing during the days when the three of them were Genin together on Team Seven.

"Sakura," she addressed her apprentice, her tone serious, "do you know what people have been saying about the three of you? Sasuke has surpassed Orochimaru, the genius of the Sannin. Jiraiya has told me that Naruto is stronger even than the Fourth Hokage, the greatest ninja Konoha has ever produced. And you are my own apprentice, the most gifted medic-nin I know of, myself included. The three of you have been called the Second Generation of the Sannin. The first generation of the Legendary Three was renowned the world over as the greatest ninja of their time. The three of you have already surpassed us. I have faith in your abilities," she finished with a satisfied smile.

"Shishou," Sakura breathed, pleased beyond words at her teacher's praise. She bowed. "We will not disappoint you, shishou."

"Good. Are there any further questions about your orders?" They all shook their heads. "Alright then, move out. And Naruto—" Said ninja perked up at the sound of his name. "—use the Teleportation Jutsu this time." Naruto's face turned a furious shade of red with embarrassment. Sasuke smirked as he gathered his chakra. In one flicker the three of them vanished, leaving an empty space in front of the Hokage's desk.

Tsunade turned her eyes to the pictures of the four previous Hokage framed and mounted upon the wall. She reached inside of one of the drawers of her desk, pulling out an old Konoha headband. The Godaime tied it about her forehead, standing up as she did so. Her eyes fixed themselves on the portrait of her grandfather, the Shodaime Hokage and the founder of the village.

"I guess now's the time for me to earn my place as one of the Hokage. It's time to finish what you started, Granddad. Madara can't win. I won't allow it."

* * *

The three members of Team Seven arrived near the edge of the battle, reaching for weapons as they prepared to launch themselves into the fray.

"Guys?" Sakura asked, her voice hesitant.

"Yeah Sakura-chan?" Naruto replied. Sasuke grunted to show he was listening.

"Do you… do you think Tsunade-shishou was serious? A…about us being the Second Generation of the Sannin I mean." She expected Sasuke's silence, but she had really thought that Naruto would reply. Both boys were silent however. Finally, Sasuke spoke up.

"I guess we'll just have to find out," he said, his hand tightening on his katana. The other two nodded. That thought in mind, Team Seven moved forward, covering the final distance that separated them from the embattled ANBU and throwing themselves upon the enemy ninja.

The Second Generation of the Sannin had entered the fray.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Poll: Who thinks I should stop putting the poem at the end of every chapter and take it out of all existing chapters? Sunday I just randomly realized that I now find it really cheesy, and I was wondering what you all thought.**

**Random note about the last manga chapter: (In regards to manga chapter 400—skip this if you haven't read that.) Oh my god, I was right! Sorry, I just have to put this in here. I swear I had a theory that exactly said that. (Well, not the part about the Massacre being a ninja mission that the Third and the advisors and Danzo were in on, but the part about Sasuke mattering more to Itachi than his own life.) Yeah, Itachi is not evil!! Now all of you must feel sorry for him. He had a really bad life. RIP Uchiha Itachi.**

**Please review! Please, it is really frustrating when only the same few people ever say anything, and it doesn't help me know what everyone else likes or dislikes about this story. If there's something you don't like, tell me, as long as you have something constructive to say about it, such as a way to improve, and you're not just flaming me.**


	12. Eternal Wars

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Twelve: Eternal Wars

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Seriously, why do I have to put this in here when it is obvious that I don't own the series? **

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, especially those who reviewed on the last chapter! There were so many of you; it made me smile. Thanks to all of you!**

**A/N: I'm, really sorry about how long this update took. As I've been saying for the last several chapters, I'm really busy with all this end of the school year stuff, and I just got to a battle, which is the hardest part for me to write. I apologize, especially to all those people who reviewed telling me that this was great and I should update soon. (This wasn't exactly the best way to express my gratitude… sweatdrop)**

* * *

"Juuken Ryuu: Hakke Hachi Sho! **(Eight Trigrams: Eight Palms!)**" Hinata cried. She lunged forward, striking at her opponent, feeling when his chakra network clogged and his heart stopped beating. The Hyuuga heiress fought down a rising surge of nausea as the full significance of her action sunk in. She had just _killed_ someone. It had been an enemy in the midst of battle, but that didn't— that couldn't—change the fact that she had just taken a human life; that someone had just died because of her. Her hands began to tremble. She had seen people die before on missions, and there had been patients at the hospital who didn't recover. But none of them had been killed by _her_. Kiba and Shino and Kurenai would always protect her on missions, killing any deadly opponents so she wouldn't have to. The most Hinata had aver had to do was knock someone out, and then she at least knew that they would awaken later. If she had had the option, she would have done the same to this ninja now. But she hadn't. This was a full-scale battle, not just one of the routine skirmishes of shinobi missions. Any opponent that was merely knocked out would rise again, and when they did they would attack her comrades again. Hinata had had no choice, but that didn't change the fact that she had ended this man's life, that he would never rise again—

"Hinata-sama!" Neji's frantic bellow jolted Hinata out of her thoughts, returning her attention to the battle. She let out a small cry of fear as her mind processed what she had not truly seen before: there was another Ame-nin charging at her, his kunai raised for the kill…

In a flash Neji was between them, lasing out with his own Juuken attack.

"Hakke Rokujuyon Shou! **(Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four Palms!)**" he cried, lashing out at the other ninja's keirakukei. Within moments the Ame-nin had fallen. The Hyuuga prodigy then turned his attention to his cousin.

"Are you alright, Hinata-sama?" he asked, his voice full of brotherly concern. Hinata nodded.

"H-hai, Neji-nii-san," she stammered. Neji nodded stiffly. He would never say as much out loud, but he had been genuinely worried that something serious had happened to his younger cousin. Hinata had come to be like a younger sister to him over the last three and a half years, and he didn't want to have her harmed.

"Twin Rising Dragons!" **(A/N: Does anyone know the Japanese of that? The site I used to go to for that stuff took it all down.)** Neji turned toward the direction of the shout. Some five meters away from them was the only other person for whom he would willingly sacrifice his life. He smiled fondly. _Tenten._ The brunette plucked her many weapons from her scrolls, throwing them at the masses of the enemy with deadly accuracy. Even in the midst of battle, Neji could not suppress the small feeling of pleasure he felt at the sight of her. He had once thought that he knew his destiny. He had once thought that he knew everything the future could hold. He had been wrong. In the future he had foreseen he had never had a lover, or a cousin who may as well have been his younger sister. He had never had a family.

* * *

Sai could pinpoint the exact moment when the relief force arrived. For one, there were suddenly fewer enemies to fight. Secondly, those that did fight seemed more desperate, as though they knew that they would die soon and wanted to hurt the enemy as badly as they could before that time came. It made no difference. Within minutes, the ANBU holding the northeastern edge of the village switched from barely managing to hold their position, to gaining ground, forcing their attackers back as they did so. With such amazing results, Sai fully expected that the relief force had comprised the vast majority of Konoha's ninja.

Imagine his surprise when he found out that it was only the three members of the original Team Seven.

Had Sai not had the ROOT motto of showing no emotion drilled into him since he was old enough to know what an emotion was, his jaw would have dropped. As it was, however, his eyes merely widened a little, and he privately wondered at the abilities of his temporary teammates. He had known that Naruto was powerful, and that Sakura packed one hell of a punch, but this was incredible. The other ninja, Sasuke, seemed to be the key. The three of them worked together flawlessly, so that they seemed not to be three separate shinobi but rather one deadly killing machine. It was something that had never happened when it was only Naruto, Sakura, and himself.

Briefly, Sai felt a flash of something in his heart. It took him a moment to identify it as jealousy. Jealousy. He was jealous. _He_ was jealous. It wasn't that they were stronger than he was; he was perfectly fine with _that_ idea. No, it was that Naruto and Sakura were the first people he had ever really connected with since the death of his brother. He had thought that he meant something to them, like they meant to him. After the failed mission to rescue Sasuke from Orochimaru those six months ago, Sakura had told him that he had earned his place as a member of Team Seven, and not just as Sasuke's replacement. At the moment, he found that hard to believe. He may have been a member of their team, but not of Team Seven. Looking at them now, he found it impossible to believe that the third space on Team Seven could be filled by anyone besides Uchiha Sasuke.

Sai knew what Sasuke had gone through. Sakura had filled him in on all the gristly details of her beloved's past, from the Uchiha Clan Massacre right down to the pain he must have felt upon receiving Orochimaru's curse seal. He knew what the Uchiha had gone through, and he didn't care.

In that moment, Sai was bitterly jealous of Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

Amber eyes gazed out over the battle being fought below. Specifically, they sought out the northeastern edge of the village, the area where she had just sent Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. The impact created by the three shinobi was noticeable, even from this great distance. A small smile of pride at their strength crossed her features, as her hand unconsciously reached to touch the Konoha headband bound across her forehead. They, and the countless other ninja of Konohagakure, were willing to fight and die to protect their home. And soon, she would be allowed to join them. She had just finished deploying the last of the ninja teams—three Genin and their Jounin sensei sent to guard the civilians in the safe houses—and was now free to fight. Her smile deepened. Yes, after these three long years of assigning missions to others and filling out paperwork, she would finally be allowed to fight herself, like the ninja she was.

The Slug Sannin would return to the line of duty tonight.

* * *

"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Ino cried beside him. **(A/N: I actually don't know what that translates to. I've seen it translated as 'Art of the Valentine' more than once, but also 'Mind Body Switch Technique.' So, to avoid using the wrong translation, I'll just say that it's Ino's mind transfer thing.)** Shikamaru saw out of the corner of his eye exactly when her body slumped over, limp without her fighting spirit to keep it standing. It was at this moment that he knew he could safely release his Kagemane no Jutsu **(Shadow Possession Technique)**. He did so, and the patch of blackness that was his extended shadow recoiled, until it was no bigger than a natural shadow. He paused for a moment thank whatever higher power there may be in the world that the Akatsuki attack had occurred on the night of a full moon; without its bright light all his shadow-based jutsu would have been impossible.

He turned to find a new opponent to capture in his shadowy grasp. Ino was wreaking havoc in her borrowed body (the other shinobi of Amegakure seemed to be taking a while to realize that the person attacking them was not some unseen Konoha ninja, but rather one of their own), and less than a block away Temari was decimating the enemy (and quite a few of the village's buildings) with her giant fan. The Suna kunoichi was in her element; it seemed that the troublesome women really were happiest when there was something around for them to beat the snot out of. Shikamaru made a mental note of that, and decided that he would never be alone with one of the very violent blonde girls. (Whoever started the 'dumb blonde' idea had obviously never met Ino and Temari, or, if they had, they had died very quickly and painfully.)

It would have been better if Chouji was here. The Akimichi's fighting style perfectly complemented his and Ino's, and besides that, Chouji was his best friend. While he knew both kunoichi were perfectly capable ninja, it just wasn't the same as having his old friend by his side. But no, Tsunade just _had_ to assign him to fight with Ino and Temari. He'd honestly thought that they would be preoccupied with killing each other outside of his bedroom for quite some time, yet they had arrived at the Hokage Tower mere minutes after he had. And, for some reason, even though Chouji was right there, Tsunade had assigned him to a temporary team that comprised only himself, Ino, and Temari.

Shikamaru sighed. There was another troublesome woman right there, though he would never be so rude (or suicidal) as to say it to Tsunade's face. Still, he had to wonder why she persisted on putting him with Ino and Temari all the time. Shouldn't she have noticed by now that the two kunoichi only wanted to kill each other, and Shikamaru wasn't the best person to assign the task of seeing to it that they didn't? Troublesome woman. _Chouji_ wouldn't have needed his constant supervision.

"Look out!" Temari's cry jolted him back to reality. Shikamaru barely managed to form the hand seal and activate his Kagemane no Jutsu again in time. He breathed a noticeable sigh of relief when the Amegakure ninja was firmly trapped by his shadow.

"That was stupid Shikamaru!" Ino shouted, still in her Ame-nin body. "Don't zone out like that! This is a battle, not one of your cloud watching days!" _I know that already Ino,_ he thought irritably.

The girls could sense his displeasure. Temari directed a triumphant smirk at Ino, who glowered. Even in the middle of battle, the rival kunoichi could find time to be concerned with their fight for Shikamaru's heart.

For his part, the genius was still oblivious. He knew that the girls hated each other for some reason, but for the life of him he could not figure out what it was. It was probably something stupid, like that Temari had insulted Ino's hair, or Ino had torn Temari's fan. Never in a hundred years would he have guessed that the cause of such bitter rivalry was none other than himself.

Sensing Shikamaru's inattentiveness, the Amegakure ninja began to struggle against his Shadow Bind. Shikamaru panted as the effort required to keep his prisoner captive suddenly increased drastically.

"Ino, hurry up and take this guy out!" he wheezed, sweat beading on his forehead.

"Alright, Shikamaru," Ino said. She formed a quick hand seal. "Kai!" A faint blue glow that was Ino's spirit flew from her captured ninja back to her own body. The blonde girl blinked as her consciousness fine-tuned itself to fit her own body, rather than that of the enemy ninja it had previously occupied. Ino was well used to shifting in and out of her own body in the middle of battles, having done it for over three and a half years now. In less than a minute she appeared to be back to normal.

The blonde kunoichi leapt up, reaching for a kunai. She threw it with deadly accuracy, burying it in the throat of the Ame-nin whose body she had previously occupied. He still had not fully recovered from having a foreign consciousness occupy his body. Now, he never would.

Without ever pausing, Ino formed a hand seal, the same one she had used earlier. She stared at her target for a second, assuring herself that the jutsu would strike true.

"Shintenshin no Jutsu!" she cried. As before, her body fell the moment her spirit left it, landing on the dirt road beneath her. With a sigh of relief, Shikamaru released his Kagemane no Jutsu, allowing Ino to wreak her own havoc in her second borrowed body. He barely got a moment's reprieve before his next opponent charged at him, his hands forming a long sequence of seals. Shikamaru caught him with his Kagemane no Jutsu before he could finish, however, preventing the jutsu from taking effect. The lazy genius sighed. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

Sakura's gaze flitted around, her eyes trying to keep track of both of her teammates' fights as well as her own. She knew that doing so was risky, yet she couldn't help it. Naruto had always been there to save her when she needed it; the least she owed him was to do the same for him. And Sasuke… Sasuke was… everything. If she looked away, he might be killed, and she wouldn't even see. She couldn't bear it if he died now, not so soon after he had returned. Even at the risk of her own life, she would keep watching him, so that she could see in time to save him if he was in trouble.

"Sakura-chan!" Sakura spun around at the sound of Naruto's voice, not a moment too soon. She ducked under the kunai swipe aimed at her, lashing out with her own knife as she did so. Her aim was true; the blade sliced deep into her opponent's torso, causing a wave of hot blood to fall. Sakura bit back a cry of revulsion as she did so. As a medic-nin, she was used to the sight of blood, even more so than most ninja. However, as a medic, her duty was to heal and to save lives, not to take them. Over the last three years, she had not taken many missions that required her to have to take human lives, and before that she had always had Naruto and Sasuke to protect her. Sakura had never had to get used to the horror of killing others. The closest she had ever come to it was when she lost a patient in the hospital, and then there wasn't the awful feeling of looking at a corpse and knowing that you had wished for this to happen. You had wished for them to die.

Sasuke appeared to notice her inner turmoil even while he was preoccupied with fighting his own battle.

"Are you alright, Sakura?" he asked, a trace of something that might have been concern appearing in his voice. Sakura slowly turned to look at him, still numb from what she had done…

The sight that met her eyes was enough to banish any lingering trace of sorrow or regret vanished from her. Sakura felt her eyes widen in sheer horror. The rhythmic beating of her heart sounded abnormally loud to her ears. Another Amegakure-ninja was charging at Sasuke while his back was turned, a sword extended to run the Uchiha through…

"Sasuke-san, behind you!" she screamed. As she did so, a shuriken sliced her shoulder, leaving a painful, though not serious, wound in its wake. Apparently some of the other enemy ninja had used her distraction as an opening to attack her. Had she been paying attention to herself, she surely would have noticed the missile and dodged it. However…

Sasuke spun around quickly, drawing his own katana. He easily parried the blow, lunging forward to run his opponent through like the ninja had planned to do to him.

…However, if she had paid attention to her own fight, she would not have seen the danger Sasuke was in. He wouldn't have known about the Ame-nin's attack; he wouldn't have been prepared to block it; he would have… would have…

Sakura's face set into an expression of determination. Even at the risk of her own life, she would keep watching him, so that she could see in time to save him if he was in trouble. She could not lose Sasuke. No matter what.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Note 1: Okay, this chapter was mainly filler (yes, I know it's weird to make part of the battle filler), which is part of why it is so short. This is because I want the battle to actually take some time, because it **_**is**_** the climax of the story, so I couldn't just jump into the stuff that I want to have happen. As a result, this was also one of the shortest chapters of the entire story. I am really sorry about that, and I am also sorry if anyone thought this was boring, especially because I took almost a week to write it.**

**Note 2: Battles in general are not my strong point in writing. I would like to point this out so everyone knows that this is not what I am used to writing, and so it is a little harder than usual for me to come up with anything. That's why the updates will be taking longer now. Hopefully I can do the whole fight in three chapters (I don't really enjoy writing them), and then we just have to wrap up everything and put in the epilogue. All in all, I'd say there are probably about five or six more chapters left to the story. **

**Please review, it helps me write the hard parts faster! (Seriously, it does.) I'm aiming for 100 reviews with this story, which I know is a lot, but it would really make me feel wonderful if I could reach it. Please?**


	13. Eternal Bonds

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Thirteen: Eternal Bonds

**Disclaimer: Naruto still belongs to Masashi Kishimoto, and I'm still just a kid with a computer. (Sigh.) Life is annoying. At least I can say that I own the specific plot of this one story.**

**A/N: Wow, this was a long chapter, especially considering how fast I wrote it. For once, a battle was easy.**

* * *

_If Sasuke-kun died, my world would stop turning. The sun would cease to shine, and my heart would die. There would be no hope, no life, no nothing, because he would no longer be there. To me, Sasuke-kun is everything. I know that he will probably never feel the same way about me. That doesn't matter. I will give my life to save him if I must. I would do it in a heartbeat. Even if he never loves me or thinks of me as anything more than a hindrance, I will love him forever. I can't do anything else. He means everything to me._

* * *

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto cried. There was a puff of smoke and a clone appeared beside him, perfect down to the last detail. The clone began to word with the original, forming a sphere of chakra in its right hand. "Rasengan!" they both cried. The clone _poofed_ away as the original charged forward, the blue Rasengan glowing in his hand. With a cry of fury he drove it forward into his enemy's chest, slicing through one ninja and piercing the next. When he looked up from the remains of his gristly work, his eyes had begun to glow with a demonic red light. The boy snarled, his whisker marks deepening as the demon's power began to seep into his own. Naruto welcomed that power. With it, he would become stronger; he would gain the ability to do all kinds of things he normally would be unable to handle. With that power, he would be strong enough to win this battle, to protect his village… to keep his team from being taken away from him again. He smiled a cruel, sinister smile.

_That's right, whelp,_ the voice of the Kyuubi said in his mind. _Let me give you my power. Let me shine through into this world once again. And in exchange, you'll have strength beyond your wildest dreams. No one would be able to take anything away from you again. All of your friends would be safe. Just take my power, and it's all yours._

_It's all mine,_ Naruto thought, his mental voice growing fainter as the Kyuubi began to take control. _They'll all be safe: Sakura, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Hinata-chan, and Sasuke. None of them will have to be hurt ever again._

His canine teeth began to elongate. Naruto crouched down, his animal instincts taking over along with the Kyuubi's. Animals did not stand upright. Demons did not stand upright. Only humans stood upright. Naruto was no longer merely human. He was so much more. Red chakra began to form around his body, taking the shape of a miniature Kyuubi. First one tail formed, then two, now three. Now four. He had reached his four tailed Kyuubi transformation. He was so very much more than human…

With the same cruel smile from earlier, Naruto turned to face the enemy ninja. The ones in the lead quailed back in fear, terrified by what they saw before them. Even if they weren't able to see his eyes clearly in the inadequate light cast by the full moon, they could tell, the same way that humans everywhere can tell, that he was not one of them. The boy before them was no longer merely a weak human ninja, capable of being killed by a simple wound. No, this was one of the nine bijuu, masses of chakra and power, unable to be destroyed.

Urged by their instincts, the human shinobi did what every human does when faced with something terrifying and beyond their ability to control: they ran. Naruto laughed at the futility of their efforts. He swung one of his massive tails, not caring when it tore through a line of buildings; bringing further destruction upon the precious village he called his home. His only response was another cruel smirk as it sliced through the ninja's bodies, severing them in two. None could stand against him. None would ever be able to hurt him again. Let them try. If they did, he would kill them. He would never lose anything ever again.

"Stop it, Naruto!" came a desperate cry. There was a girl staring at him, her eyes swimming with tears. She had pink hair that seemed familiar, though Naruto did not know where it was from. "Please, stop it Naruto," she said again, "you're hurting people. Please, this isn't like you." She started forward, reaching out a hand to touch him. Instinctively, the Jinchuuriki recoiled, striking at her with one of his tails. The blow knocked the girl off her feet, sending her flying into the side of a building. She did not hit too hard, as she was still breathing, but the blow was forceful enough that she did not rise again.

"Naruto!" The blond Jinchuuriki turned toward the source of the bellow. The Sharingan-red eyes of Uchiha Sasuke glared back at him, full of a mixture of power and rage. "Control yourself, Naruto," Sasuke ordered, his voice deadly calm. The Uchiha ducked under another ninja's swinging fist, slashing forward with his katana as he did so, all without breaking eye contact with Naruto.

The kitsune container felt rage boiling within him. Who was this Uchiha, this _boy_, to think that he could control him? He was the greatest of the nine bijuu, the most powerful force in the world, while even with the curse seal Sasuke was nothing but a pathetic mimicry of a demon. The furious Sharingan continued to bore into the depths of the Kyuubi's eyes. "Naruto," Sasuke repeated, his voice still losing some of its commanding edge. Instead, it sounded almost like the Uchiha was pleading with him.

Suddenly, Naruto found them teleported to a place that was not the battlefield that was one of the streets of Konohagakure, full of the bodies of the dead and dying. The place they were in now resembled a sewer, complete with ten or so centimeters of water covering the ground. Naruto could hear the methodic _drip, drip, drip_ of it further along the corridors. It was the only sound he could hear.

He was standing about two meters away from a gate, one that was designed like a prison cell door. On it was a tag bearing the kanji for 'seal.' The blond Jinchuuriki looked up, knowing what he would find. They eyes of the Kyuubi stared back at him, glowing their fierce red.

"Naruto," said a familiar voice beside him. He turned. There beside him, was the only other person who had ever seen this strange place inside of him: his closest friend, Uchiha Sasuke. His eyes were still the bloody red of the Sharingan, though there was something in them that Naruto had never before seen when his friend's kekkei genkai was active. Pain. Desperation. Grief. Concern. Emotion. As though coming from another life, Naruto heard the voice of his temporary squad captain, Yamato, through the haze in his mind.

_"If you ever want to save Sasuke, then do it with your own strength. If you want to see him again, then look at him through your own eyes, not the Kyuubi's. If you want to protect Sakura, do it with your own strength, not the Kyuubi's."_

_"Brat,"_ the Kyuubi began warningly, sensing where Naruto's train of thought was headed. Sasuke turned to face him, his Sharingan still active.

"Shut up," he said with the calm certainty of one who knows that his order will be obeyed. Sure enough, the Kyuubi shut its mouth, as tame as a kitten when given a direct order by one with the Sharingan. "Naruto, listen to me," Sasuke instructed, still looking at the Kyuubi, "you have to suppress this _thing_. You're hurting the village; you injured Sakura. You have to stop." With his Sharingan, Sasuke could have suppressed the Kyuubi's chakra himself, as he had done six months ago when Naruto and the rest of Team Yamato had found him in Orochimaru's lair. However, he hadn't. Instead, he had chosen to appeal to Naruto and convince the boy to suppress the power himself.

It had worked. Sasuke could see the Kyuubi's chakra pulling back, returning to its sealed form behind that gate. He broke his connection with Naruto, returning to his own body and the battle that awaited him. He knew without sticking around that the Kyuubi's power would be sealed for the rest of the fight, and probably quite some time after. This was not arrogant certainty of his own power over the bijuu. This was his faith in the willpower of his best friend.

Across from him, Naruto blinked dazedly as his eyes returned to their normal sparkling shade of blue.

"Thanks, Teme," he said, still a little out of it. Sasuke nodded stiffly, already moving towards the still form of their comrade. Sakura had been knocked out by the Kyuubi's blow, but she did not appear to be badly injured. Sasuke picked her up gently, holding her bridal style.

"Come on Dobe," he said. Naruto looked confused. Sasuke sighed in impatience. "Cover me while I get Sakura to Tsunade. She'll only be a liability if she stays her, and I can't carry her and fight off any enemies at the same time." Naruto nodded, still guilty with the knowledge that they wouldn't even need to worry about Sakura if he had done a better job of keeping the Kyuubi under control.

_Would you? _asked the Kyuubi's voice in his mind. _Remember whelp, it's been my power that's allowed you to save them all these times. Without me, you're nothing; you're weak; you're _human_._

_Shut up! _Naruto shouted back at it. _It was your power that hurt her when we went to save Sasuke, and your power that hurt her now! Your power is what causes all these problems!_

_But when you chose to not use my power, you weren't strong enough to save the Uchiha brat you care so much about. You're still not strong enough to do it without my help._

_Then I'll just have to _get_ strong enough to do it without your help._

* * *

_Man this is so troublesome, _Shikamaru thought, sighing with boredom even as he ducked under a katana swipe aimed to take off his head. _I mean, I know I'm a genius and everything, but that doesn't mean that this is _easy_. I'm better at one-on-one combat, not this endless fighting. _He used a kunai to strike at the ninja before the other had even realized that he had dodged. Before he could recover his stance though, an enemy kunoichi charged forward, picking up her fallen comrade's katana as she did so. Shikamaru grimaced. _I can't think up a strategy when they keep popping up like this right after I get rid of the last one. _The kunoichi stabbed at his with the sword, and obvious blow which he dodged, only to be met by her kick to his knee. Shikamaru's leg buckled and he fell, rolling to absorb the impact. The kunoichi was upon him again before he could even begin to prepare his Kagemane no Jutsu. Shikamaru noticed that she was a blonde, just like Ino and Temari and Tsunade. Her eyes were deep green, accented by her angular features. Had she not been trying to kill him, Shikamaru would almost have called her pretty. As it was though, she was just another troublesome woman. _Why do all of the blondes also have to be troublesome? _he wondered. Her blade slashed his torso, leaving a wicked gash that probably would have been fatal had he not instinctively pulled back at the first signs of a follow-up attack.

"Shikamaru!" Ino screamed. "Are you alright?" _What a pointless question, _the lazy genius thought, hurriedly lifting his kunai to parry the Rain kunoichi's next blow. Her katana nicked his much-smaller knife's blade, but the kunai had deflected the attack. _That girl almost killed me just now; of course I'm not alright. _Shikamaru leapt up, wincing at the pain from his wound. Obviously this girl would not hold still long enough for him to use any of his shadow jutsu. Attacking with the kunai appeared to be his only option.

Temari could see this. "Hang on you idiot," she called, sending a powerful gust of wind from her fan at her own opponent, "we'll save you." _Great, _Shikamaru thought sarcastically, _I get to be saved by a girl again._

"And I always thought Amegakure was a _small _village," he complained aloud, annoyed by the sheer number of enemies he had been forced to fight that night. His opponent smirked.

"That's exactly what Pein-sama wanted you to think," she informed him. "He wanted you to underestimate us, to give us an edge when we finally attacked. Really our village is probably even larger than yours. And," she continued, smirking again, "we have a new addition. The latest of Pein-sama's conquests."

"And that would be…?" Shikamaru prompted.

"Otogakure no Sato." Shikamaru froze in shock for a second, an advantage which the enemy kunoichi pressed. She lunged again, lashing out with a blow that Shikamaru barely parried.

"I thought the Sound Village was without a leader since Orochimaru died!" he said once he found his voice.

"It was," she verified. "That's exactly what made conquering it so easy. The bases were all in chaos; the prisoners were rebelling. It was easy for Pein-sama to step in and take over." Shikamaru's quick brain was already processing the information he had been given, trying to find a way to turn it to his advantage. Otogakure. That was the place where Sasuke had gone during his three year absence from the village. He'd been close to Orochimaru there; the Uchiha would probably know many of the village's secrets and weaknesses. If Shikamaru could just escape this troublesome blonde to find him, it was possible that Konoha could be given a huge advantage in this fight. He lunged with a kunai again, fresh determination to end this battle making its way into the attack.

"Oh no you don't," the kunoichi said, parrying his feeble kunai with her katana. This blow possessed a new power and ferocity that had been absent from any of the pervious ones. Her green eyes flashed with triumph as she sliced the tip off of his kunai, leaving him with nothing but a severed handle to defend himself with. Shikamaru gazed in shock at his weapon for a moment before she stepped forward.

"Game over," she said, her voice deadly. She raised her katana in preparation for an overhead strike, a clean blow that would easily decapitate him. Shikamaru mentally cringed as the moonlight glinted off of the wickedly sharp edge. Well, at least he would see Asuma again. He could talk with his old teacher, and maybe they would play shougi. Unless he went to the other place, that is, and in all honesty Shikamaru thought he had been a decent enough guy that he didn't deserve to get sent there. So he would see Asuma again soon then.

Or not.

"Kamaitachi! **(Slicing Wind)**" **(A/N: Thank you to ArmorofGeddon for telling me what that is in Japanese.) **A concentrated gust of wind blew directly at the Amegakure kunoichi, sending her flying several feet away from Shikamaru. Temari appeared beside him, looking confident and more than a little pleased with herself. "I told you we'd be here to save you, Idiot," she told Shikamaru in response to his look of grateful astonishment. "Geez, you should learn that when a woman makes a promise, she keeps it. You ready, Ino?" she asked, turning to the other 'troublesome woman' beside her.

"Heh, you bet Temari," Ino said. Her hand formed a seal. "Shintenshin no Jutsu!"

Something was wrong. That was Shikamaru's thought as soon as the Ame-kunoichi-now-taken-over-by-Ino stood up. Something had definitely gone wrong with the mind transfer, because there was no _way_ that that was Ino looking at him now. There were certain things that he associated with Ino; things he'd picked up on that would allow him to identify her in any body she may have taken over during a fight. Ino always had a certain glint in her eye, a smirk that was self-satisfied but not really arrogant, and a certain demeanor that told you that while she may act harsh, she could turn into one of the most caring people in the world in a matter of seconds. The kunoichi standing up now possessed none of those things. She smirked, an expression utterly devoid of warmth or kindness.

"How?" Shikamaru asked. "There was no way Ino missed, not that easy of a shot!"

"She didn't," the Rain-nin sneered. "But, I'm not the kind of person who will just sit back and let some crazy Leaf girl take over my body. She's here alright, but she's completely under _my_ control."

"No," Shikamaru breathed. Yes, Ino made his life far more difficult than it needed to be. Yes, Ino needed to learn how to relax and let him be lazy once in a while. Yes, she was definitely a troublesome woman. But Ino was his comrade. They'd been on the same team since they were first made Genin, all those years ago. That was an experience that you couldn't share without developing some sense of attachment to each other. He tried to move, to charge the enemy, to pull Ino away, to do anything, but his wound forced him to double over, clutching his torso and trying to stem the flow of blood. If he didn't get treatment soon, he would die of blood loss for sure.

"Say goodbye to your little friend," the kunoichi said, her voice devoid of any traces of warmth. She pulled a kunai out of the holster on her thigh, holding it up and gazing along its length so that she stared directly at the point in Ino's chest where her heart lay. Without displaying any sign of hesitation, she threw it.

Shikamaru's eyesight changed as he watched the resulting sequence of events unfold. It was not as though things were occurring in slow motion, like they did in the movies, but rather as though his eyes had suddenly grown more perceptive, enabling him to view every event in astonishing detail.

Ino's jutsu ended, either through chakra exhaustion or a move by the Ame-nin they weren't sure.

Her spirit returned to its own body.

The kunai arrived at its target, burying itself deep in the flesh of Yamanaka Ino.

Said kunoichi screamed in agony as her blood spurted forth from the wound, spreading over the fabric of her shirt like a crimson flower.

Temari acted. With a howl of rage like Shikamaru had never before heard from the Sand kunoichi, she swung her fan, creating a gust of wind more massive than any of her previous ones. It sliced at the surrounding features, leaving deep gashes in ground and the sides of buildings. Dust and leaves stirred, suddenly made airborne by the harsh wind blowing. When things finally cleared, the Amegakure kunoichi lay on the ground, her head separated from her body and blood pooling around her. She was clearly dead.

"Ino!" Shikamaru cried, not caring for the moment about the murder he had just witnessed. Normally he would feel some remorse at the death of anyone, even an enemy, who he had been forced to kill in battle. Now, all he felt was regret that she had died with so little pain.

He dashed forward, catching Ino as she fell backwards. He hugged her tightly, gazing down at her dying body with tears in his eyes.

"Shikamaru?" she said weakly.

"Yeah, it's me, Ino," he replied. She smiled, coughing up a small amount of blood as she did so.

"You know what's funny?" she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she continued, "They always said you were a genius. I remember thinking when we were younger that you definitely were. You were so smart, even if you were too lazy to ever actually show it. But you know, you're not really all that smart after all, Shikamaru." She paused. "You're stupid. Stupid and naïve. You never once, in all this time, realized why it was that I couldn't stand Temari-san. You never did. Do you want to know why that was, Shikamaru?" He nodded, not understanding what it was she was getting at but willing to let her speak. "It's because I love you, Nara Shikamaru. I love you, but she does too, and I can't stand the thought of _her_ getting you." She turned to Temari. "I guess this decides it," she said. "I'm no longer in the running. Shikamaru is all yours." There were tears in Temari's deep green eyes.

"I never wanted it to end this way Ino. You know that, right?"

"Of course I do. That doesn't change the fact that it did. But listen to me here, if you ever hurt him, my ghost will come after you and haunt you for the rest of eternity. Got it?"

"Got it, Ino," Temari said, smiling despite herself. Ino grinned back.

"You two have a good life together. Don't let him slack off Temari; I'll hold you to that as well. Tell Chouji I'll miss him, and he was like a brother to me." Shikamaru nodded, still clutching Ino's body.

"Then… I guess this is goodbye."

Those were her last words. After that, Yamanaka Ino stopped resisting. Her body gave one final shudder, and she lay still. Shikamaru hugged her still form, tears from his eyes landing on her already paling face.

"I'll never forget you, Ino," he whispered to her. With that final farewell, he set her body down and turned to face Temari.

"Is that true?" he asked. "What she said about the two of you… loving me." Temari smirked sadly.

"Of course it's true, you idiot. Ino's loved you ever since she stopped chasing after that Uchiha kid. And I have too." Shikamaru sighed.

"It would have been troublesome, but I wish that I had been able to make the choice in the end, instead of… this."

"Yeah."

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes slowly, groaning as she became aware of the burning pain in her arm. She turned her head to gaze numbly at it, her mind not fully processing that the blackened line running horizontally across her forearm was really a part of her body.

"Are you alright, Sakura?" The kunoichi turned towards the origin of the voice, her eyes opening fully as her mind awakened from its haze. Tsunade's amber eyes stared back at her, sparkling with concern for her pupil.

"My arm," Sakura said quietly, knowing that she would not be able to hold back her cry of pain if she spoke any louder. Tsunade complied, moving her hands over the wounded area as they began to glow with healing chakra. The ruined flesh bubbled disgustingly for a moment before it began to heal and revert to its usual pale pinkish hue. Sakura closed her eyes with a sigh of relief. "Arigatou, Tsunade-shishou." Her mentor smiled kindly. She had resented it when the Council first refused to let her fight. However, had she gone to the battle she so desperately wanted to join, no one would have had the skill necessary to heal Sakura's wound. Injuries caused by the chakra of the Kyuubi no kitsune were not something that just anyone would be able to heal.

Besides, she thought with a wry smile, it wasn't as though she was the only one in Konoha who could use the inhuman strength anymore. Sakura had at least equaled, if not surpassed her in that field. And even more than that, her apprentice deserved to be allowed to fight here, beside Naruto and Sasuke.

Sakura's arm was now fully healed. Said kunoichi opened her eyes, marveling slightly at how perfectly her arm had healed in such a short time.

"Are you feeling better now, Sakura?" Sakura sat up fully, turning around to face the speaker. Sasuke lounged idly against the wall, gazing intently down at her. Sakura blushed at his stare. It might have been only her imagination, but she thought that there was a trace of something that might have been concern cracking his normally emotionless façade.

"H-hai," she stammered, trying to get her blush under control before Sasuke noticed. "I'm fine, Sasuke-san." He nodded stiffly, stepping away from the wall.

"Naruto and I will leave then," he said. Naruto joined him, looking slightly resentful that he was, in essence, obeying Sasuke's orders. The two shinobi prepared to leap away—

"Where are you going?" Sakura asked, confused.

"Back to the battle," Sasuke replied as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'm coming with you," she said firmly, standing up as she did so.

"No." There was no hint of compromise in Sasuke's voice.

"Yes. I'm a ninja, just like the two of you. I'm fighting in this battle."

"Sakura-chan, please," Naruto begged. "It's not that we think you're unable to fight, honest! It's that… well, you're hurt!"

"So?! Since when has that ever stopped either one of you from doing things far more suicidal than this?! What's the difference between me fighting now and you fighting then?!"

"The difference is that you're Sakura-chan!" the blonde Jinchuuriki cried. "I don't want you to get hurt! You're like my little sister, and if Sasuke over there wasn't so busy acting like he has a stick shoved up his ass, he would say the same thing! We're worried about you because we care about you!" Naruto was beginning to look frantic. He already had Hinata out there somewhere risking her life, and Sasuke would definitely try to kill him if he even suggested that the Uchiha stay out of the fight. The only person that he could keep out of harm's way was Sakura, and he didn't want to risk losing her as well. He'd been alone for so long; he couldn't lose the family he finally had!

"Naruto," she said, torn between annoyance and sympathy, "I'm not going to die. I promise. Let me come back with the two of you, and I won't get hurt again." Her tone of voice implied what she would do if he still said no, and it didn't sound pretty. Naruto caved, knowing very well what Sakura was capable of doing to him when she was mad.

"Alright Sakura." Said kunoichi then turned to face the other male present.

"Is that good enough for you too, Sasuke?" Sasuke so very wished he could say what was on his mind right there. No, that was not good enough, because no one ever intended to die in battle, but they died all the same. How did he know that Sakura wouldn't be one of those cases? What was he supposed to do if she died now? He'd already lost one family when Itachi killed the clan, and he'd had to leave Naruto and Sakura behind when he left to join that bastard Orochimaru in Sound. This was different from Naruto. Naruto was a Jinchuuriki, and at one point he had been stronger than Sasuke himself. Naruto, he knew, could handle just about anything. Sakura probably could too, now. That was just the thing. She could handle it _now_. No matter how much he'd heard about how powerful Sakura had gotten over the last three years, and how much he saw the results with his own eyes, Sasuke would always remember Sakura as the weak little girl that he and Naruto had had to protect on missions during their Genin days. That instinct to protect her was still strong. He would do whatever it took to keep Sakura out of harm's way. Sasuke did not want to ever have to lose the people he cared about again. Especially not Sakura. Not her.

However, he was pretty sure that the implied threat to Naruto would be used on him as well. Just as powerful as his desire to protect Sakura was Sasuke's wish to keep all of his limbs attached and all of his internal organs internal.

"Hn." Bless whoever it was who invented monosyllable answers open to many different interpretations.

Sakura seemed to take that as 'yes, it's good enough for me but I still don't like it,' because she smiled and moved behind to stand behind Naruto and himself.

"Alright then! The awesome power of Team Seven strikes again!" Naruto exclaimed. Sasuke punched him in the head. Hard. "Ow! What the heck was that for Teme?!"

"Dobe! I told you to never say that again!"

"Well fine then," Naruto replied sarcastically. "How about 'The Incredible Trio of Awesomeness'?"

"That's even worse than the last one," Sasuke said blandly.

"You think up a cool name then if you're so wonderful!" retorted Naruto hotly.

"Fine then, I will."

"Guys," Sakura said, trying to break up their argument before it got too serious.

"Well then hurry up and think of it!" Naruto shouted.

"Guys," Sakura repeated slightly louder than the previous time.

"Team Seven," Sasuke stated simply.

"That's not a cool name, Teme!"

"GUYS!!" Sakura shouted. Both boys spun around in shock to face her. Their expressions quickly switched from puzzlement to fear as they took in her furious expression of anime rage and the ominous wind that had suddenly sprung up to blow her hair in a dangerous manner. "We're in the middle of a freakin' _battle_! You're supposed to be fighting the enemy, not each other! Now both of you are going stop fighting and grow up, right now."

"But Sakura-chan— " Naruto began.

"Right. Now."

"Yes Sakura-chan," he said in a very small voice. The expression of utter terror on Naruto's face was almost comical.

"Good. Sasuke-san, do you understand as well?"

"Aa."

"That better have meant yes." Sasuke sighed.

"Yes Sakura," he said wearily.

"Good then. Team Seven will now return to the battle."

Despite their many differences, about one thing Sasuke and Naruto will eternally agree…

…Sakura is really scary when she's mad.

* * *

Naruto grinned, even as he dodged an opponent's kick.

"What are you laughing at?!" the other ninja asked, outraged that he was being underestimated by this… this boy! Naruto grinned again.

"Nothing," he said. "I was just imagining the expression on your face when I do this." From behind the ninja sprung two more Narutos, one of their hands holding a sphere of chakra. The second clone _poofed_ away, so that the only one left was the one with the sphere.

"Take this! Rasengan!" the clone cried. The poor other ninja never stood a chance. Before he had time to do anything more than draw a last, frightened breath, the Rasengan hit him, throwing him several meters and killing him instantly. Naruto moved towards the body, checking that he really was dead. With the Rasengan he definitely should be, but it was better to check now than to assume and be proved wrong later at the expense of his or a comrade's life.

The man's face was frozen forever in an expression of profound terror and pain. The sight of it sickened Naruto, causing him to turn away so fast that he almost missed the man's forehead protector. There was no time to notice such things in the heat of battle; Naruto had simply assumed that since Pein was known to command the Rain Village that the ninja he was fighting would be Rain-nin. However, now that he was given the chance to really look at the man's forehead protector, he saw that that was not the case. Instead of having the four vertical lines of Amegakure printed on it, there was only a single music note. This man had come from Otogakure no Sato.

Naruto's (underused) mind whirled. How many of the other ninja he'd fought and killed had really been Sound-nin? How many of Orochimaru's subordinates were here? And… why _were_ they here? Since Sasuke killed Orochimaru, the Sound was rumored to be in chaos as the prisoners rebelled and the different bases fought for domination over one another. Was this ninja here to kill Sasuke in revenge for that? Or had that guy Pein done the same thing Orochimaru had, promising those with nothing that he would give them power and a second chance when he intended only to use them for his own ends?

So intently was he concentrating that Naruto failed to notice the Konoha ANBU beside him until the ninja saved him from an enemy who thought he'd take out one of the Leaf's ninja while he was preoccupied.

"Naruto," Yamato's voice addressed him from behind the cat mask.

"Yamato-taichou!" he cried in surprise at seeing his former squad captain right now.

"Just Yamato," the other replied, "I'm no longer your captain after all."

"Hai Yamato-tai—Yamato." Yamato grimaced behind his mask. If it was this hard to cure Naruto of calling him '-taichou,' how hard would it be when he informed the blond that Yamato was only a code name he had received for a particular assignment, and not his real name? He decided to save that trouble for another day.

"Have you seen Uchiha Sasuke?" Yamato asked.

"Yeah, he's right there," Naruto said, pointing to where the Uchiha genius was using his Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu to thin the ranks of opposing ninja.

"Good," Yamato said while nodding. "I must speak with him. Come with me. This concerns you as well." The two Konoha ninja made their way toward Naruto's teammate, deliberately avoiding engaging in any battles on their way.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Yamato addressed the dark haired young man, speaking loudly to be heard over the din of battle. Said shinobi turned to face him, the full moon's light reflecting sinisterly off of his blood red Sharingan eyes. "There is news concerning the whereabouts of your brother, Uchiha Itachi." Sasuke froze. Yamato continued regardless, "He has been sighted at the Nakano Shrine near the Uchiha Compound."

"Do not"—Sasuke gritted his teeth as he spoke—"allow anyone"—his fists clenched—"to attack him"—Sasuke's curse seal began to glow—"except for me." The glowing red marks of the Heaven Seal began to move over Sasuke's body in a pattern resembling flame. At the rate they were spreading, it wouldn't take very long for him to reach the curse's second state. The marks began to merge together, turning his skin a sickening gray color—

"Sasuke-san!" The Uchiha looked up. Sakura was nearly in hysterics, terrified by his use of the seal. "Please, don't do this! I know you're angry about Itachi, but please, I beg you, don't use that seal Orochimaru gave you! It's—it's not worth hurting yourself to kill him! Don't you see, Sasuke-san, he's not worth it!" There had once been a time when this speech would earn Sakura the word 'annoying' and an order to mind her own business. Now, however, Sasuke obeyed her wish without complaint. The curse began to recede, until it was just a simple three-pronged seal on the back of his neck.

"I'm leaving," Sasuke said, turning away.

"Wait!"

"What _now_, Sakura?" Sasuke snapped without turning around.

"We're coming with you." He froze.

"Out of the question," he told her, his tone saying that the decision was final.

"_Yes_!" she insisted. "Sasuke-san, please. We're your friends, and we want to help you!"

"I don't need your help. I've told you that before, Sakura."

"Sasuke-san you left us for three years when you joined Orochimaru. Please, just please, don't do that to us again." Sasuke could hear in her voice that she was crying, even if he couldn't see the tears themselves. He wished she had brought up something—anything—but that. He'd been convinced at the time that leaving the village was the only way; that it was best for all of them. Even seeing her tears the night he left and hearing Naruto's pain at the Valley of the End hadn't convinced him otherwise. He'd been convinced that they'd get over it, because after all, he couldn't have been _that_ important to them. He'd always been so cold towards them; surely that attitude had not allowed them to come to care for him as much as they claimed to. What had finally convinced him of his folly had been his return—seeing that their pain had _not_ faded with time as he'd thought it would. That had struck deep. He'd never meant to hurt them like that. He'd only wanted to protect them from Orochimaru and Itachi. But he had. He had hurt them. And no matter how many times they forgave him, Sasuke knew that he never would be able to forgive himself. Not matter what he did for them he would never be able to make up for causing that pain. He could only try.

"Fine," he all but spat, relying on anger to hide the fear and pain he was feeling, "you can come."

"Yetta!" Naruto cried. Sasuke resisted the urge to bash his head against something hard. They had no idea what it was they were agreeing to fight, no idea that Itachi could kill them just as easily as he'd killed Sasuke's parents all those years ago.

"Come on, Sasuke-san," Sakura said gently from beside him. The Uchiha followed her down a little-used road that was clear of fighting. The three of them did not want to get caught up in anyone else's battle now. Sticking to streets and alleys such as the first one, the three of them headed towards the Uchiha Compound and Uchiha Itachi.

"Teme," Naruto said, turning to look back at his closest friend, "you know you don't have to worry about losing us. Sakura-chan and I aren't going to let you be alone again." Sakura turned to face Sasuke at Naruto's words. To her surprise, he was smirking. She was about to comment when the three of them felt a powerful flare of foreign chakra. By unspoken consent they all ducked into the shadows, hoping to avoid whoever it was.

Sasuke tensed as the chakra flared again. He hadn't been paying too much attention until the first chakra flare, so he hadn't had time to identify it before it faded, but now that he'd had a chance to feel it again… he knew this chakra.

"Karin," he spat. At the sound of her name, said obnoxious Sound kunoichi stepped out from an alley up ahead, her hands crossed over her chest, looking very arrogant. (Which was really saying something, considering that _Uchiha Sasuke_ was present.)

"I'm flattered that my Sasuke-kun recognized me," the redhead cooed. Sasuke grimaced.

"Karin?" Sakura asked. She had never heard of the girl before, and was curious as to who she was and what she could do.

"She's from Oto," Sasuke informed her through gritted teeth. "Orochimaru put her in charge of one of his lairs whenever he's away. Her ability is to sense chakra."

"Sasuke-kun, you're forgetting our _relationship_," Karin said, putting special emphasis on the last word.

"Teme, you didn't!" Naruto cried. He already disliked Karin, and he had only known her for a few minutes. The idea that she had actually _meant _anything to Sasuke during his years in the Sound was sickening.

"I didn't," the Uchiha confirmed. "Karin's an annoyance, nothing more." _A very unwelcome annoyance,_ he added silently. Karin's behavior the few times he'd seen her had been atrocious. You'd _think_ that leaving the village, knocking out the girl who confessed her undying love for him, and almost killing his best friend would be enough to rid him of his fangirls. But all that, as well as numerous rejections and the flat refusal of every date she had ever offered him had not been enough to dissuade Karin.

"Sasuke-kun, how easily you dismiss our love!" Karin cried dramatically. Sakura made a face in disgust. Had she really been that obnoxious once? No wonder Sasuke had always seemed to hate her!

Karin noticed her expression. "And I suppose you think he likes _you_ better, don't you?"

"At least I don't throw myself at him like some kind of hormone-driven freak!" _Any more,_ she reminded herself.

"Sasuke-kun," Karin whined, "are you going to let her talk to me like that?"

"Yes," he replied simply. Karin gaped in shock.

"I know you don't mean that Sasuke-kun," she said.

"Yes, I do mean it." Karin gasped again.

"Fine then!" she all but shouted. "If that pink haired witch has turned you against me then fine! I'll just get rid of her, and then you'll come to your senses and realize it was me you loved all along." The three members of Team Seven tensed in anticipation of her attack, their hands automatically moving to their weapon pouches.

However, it was not Karin who attacked them. From the shadows emerged two squads of ninja, all of them Oto-nin. Their chakra was so minimal that none of the Konoha ninja, not even Sakura, had been able to notice them amid the battles taking place across the rest of the village.

The Otogakure shinobi charged. Sasuke hurriedly dodged a volley of kunai, already activating his Sharingan. He did not have time for this! He had to get to the Uchiha Compound to fight Itachi _now_, not waste his time dealing with these amateurs. Sasuke kicked one, performing a quick Shunshin no Jutsu to teleport around the ninja. He then kicked him in the back, smirking as the ninja fell forward. A quick kunai in the back pierced his heart, assuring that the Oto-nin was dead. At least these guys were easy to kill.

He turned to see how his teammates were doing and nearly froze in shock. His Sharingan quickly picked up on every movement, allowing him to perceive the events unfolding so clearly that they seemed to be occurring almost in slow motion.

Karin's hand had suddenly begun to glow with chakra that quickly formed itself into a blade-like form. Sasuke was familiar with the chakra scalpel through Kabuto's extensive usage of it. He knew that that energy-based knife was powerful enough to pierce through the skin destroy an internal organ, while leaving the exterior of the body unscarred. It was a high-level and deadly medical ninjutsu, and it did not bode well that Karin knew it.

The second thing he had noticed was where she appeared to be planning on using it. This was what had almost caused Sasuke to freeze. In Karin's probable course of trajectory there was only one person… Sakura.

Sasuke had no weapons to use; that kunai he had killed the Oto-nin with had been his last. All of his jutsu required either physical contact, such as the Chidori, or were too imprecise, such as the Katon: Gokakyuu no Jutsu. If he used that, odds were that he would kill Sakura as well.

_You're not supposed to care about her, _a little voice in his mind reminded him.

Sasuke wracked his brain for something, anything, he could do to save Sakura.

_You're supposed to only care about your revenge._

He couldn't call out to her. No one would hear him over the din of battle, and even if she did there would be no time for her to react.

_You still have to kill Itachi._

Karin charged forward, her hand glowing with chakra.

_You still have to avenge your parents._

Sakura finished her enemy and turned. Her eyes widened as for the first time she realized the danger she was in.

_She means nothing._

Sasuke's Sharingan caught every detail of the expression of terror on her face: the widening of her eyes, the paling of her face, the quickening of her breathing. It was an expression he'd hoped never to have to see on her, because he was the one who was supposed to protect her.

_Yeah, right, _he thought back at the voice.

Karin smirked with satisfaction at Sakura's fear, lifting her chakra-filled hand.

"Die!" she shouted.

"Shunshin no Jutsu!" Sasuke cried at the same time.

Karin's hand sliced through layers of cloth and flesh, reaching the internal organs protected by the ribcage. The edge of her chakra scalpel pierced the bottom of the person's heart, damaging it instantly. Her eyes widened with shock as she realized who it was she had just attacked.

The Sharingan red eyes of Uchiha Sasuke glared back.

"Chidori," he gasped out, reaching for his katana. The sword began to crackle with lightning. Sasuke raised it, and plunged it into Karin's heart. The Otogakure kunoichi gasped in shock before her eyes rolled and she fell. She was dead before she hit the ground.

"Sasuke-kun, why?" Sakura asked, too shocked to remember that she was now calling him Sasuke_-san_ to his face. Sasuke noticed. He'd noticed every time she'd left his usual suffix off of his name, and he noticed its return. He smirked. Maybe she hadn't moved on then.

"Because I love you." The kunoichi gasped in shock. Those were the words she had always hoped he would say, yet now she would have preferred that he not say them and still be alive than to have said them and be dying before her eyes.

"Teme!" Naruto shouted in fear, running towards them. Sakura set down Sasuke's body, her hands already glowing green with healing chakra as she struggled to save him.

"Don't, Sakura. It's already too late for that," Sasuke told her weakly.

"No!" she cried through her tears. Funny, she hadn't realized she was crying. Sasuke feebly lifted one hand. He brushed her cheek fondly with it, wiping away the pearly tear.

"Hush, don't cry Sakura," he told her. She sobbed again.

"I can't believe it," she said. "You're… you're leaving me again, you're dying." He smiled gently at her, a real, genuine smile.

"I'll never leave you," he promised her. "Even when I'm gone, I'll always be here with you." She sobbed again, her hands continuing to glow even as his breathing grew fainter. A few drops of rain began to fall. Clouds had gathered without any of the members of Team Seven noticing. It was as though the very heavens wept.

"I'll never leave you two," Sasuke promised weakly, closing his eyes. His breathing slowed even further, then stopped altogether.

"Teme," Naruto breathed, tears pooling in his own eyes.

"No," Sakura whispered again.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Note 1: Wow, a lot happened in this chapter. Ino died (sorry to any Ino fans) and Karin died (yay). And, of course, I left you with an awesome cliffhanger ending. (Hehe, evil cliffhangers rock. Yes, I am evil.) Is Sasuke dead? Only my deranged mind knows the answer. (It's different from what I originally planned, I'll tell you that much.)**

**Note 2: The reason Sasuke may seem OOC at the end of this chapter is that he's dying. If he's about to be gone anyway, there's no reason he can't tell everyone what it is that he really thinks about them, right? He just decided that he may as well say what he wants, because he won't have to live with the consequences. (Bad pun, sorry about that.)**

**Manga chapter 402 rant: Noooooooooo…ooooooo! Why did Kishimoto have to do that, why?! Yes, I totally get how it makes sense, but why did Sasuke have to pursue revenge on Konoha?! I mean, you'd think he'd learn from how his first shot at revenge went. I'm starting to wonder if he'll ever come back, I mean, the village murdered his parents. But, he has to, because he has to be reunited with Naruto and Sakura. (I'm serious about that; it's one of the big conflicts of the series in part 2 and has to be resolved.) Hopefully we'll hear something more about it next week, and the manga won't just suddenly switch to talking about Naruto.**

**Review, it makes me smile!**


	14. Eternal Miracles

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Fourteen: Eternal Miracles

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, I wouldn't have to wonder what the heck Kishimoto is planning to do with Sasuke's new goal. I don't own the series, so I have to sit here and wonder and eagerly await the next chapter.**

**Warning: Spoilers for Naruto manga chapter 392.**

**A/N: Wahoo, school's out! (Well, it is for me at least.) Yay, summer break! That means I get more time to write, which is a good thing for all of you. And for me, it means I don't have to go to school! Yeah!**

* * *

All he could see was whiteness. There was no ground, no sky, no shadow, no nothing. Just an impenetrable, all-consuming whiteness.

_Where am I?_ he wondered through the haze in his mind. He looked around, hoping to find something else here, anything existing in this strange world besides the overwhelming whiteness. There was nothing. He was alone here.

_Where is here?_ _Why do I exist in this place? Why am I alone?_ None of the questions seemed relevant. The only thing in the world was the blinding whiteness. That was all. That was the only thing that existed. That was the only thing that mattered.

"Sasuke. Sasuke-kun." The word was a faint whisper on the air. _Sasuke,_ he repeated in his mind. _Sasuke. What does 'Sasuke' mean?_

"Sasuke-kun," he heard again. It sounded like a voice, a human voice. The person, whoever they were, was crying as they spoke. Why were they crying? Did it have something to do with 'Sasuke?'

"Teme," a new voice whispered. It sobbed quietly before continuing. "No… Sasuke." Teme meant you, he remembered. Did that mean that the person was talking to him? Was he Sasuke?

_"Sasuke!"_ This time the name was spoken in a different voice, one that contained much more demand and force. It released some kind of block in his mind, causing him to be assailed by a barrage of memories. Itachi was carrying him home after he sprained his ankle training; he watched as Itachi beat up the police members sent to accuse him of Shisui's murder; he watched through Tsukuyomi as Itachi killed the entire clan; he was twelve and graduating the Academy, first in his class just as his father had hoped; he was a Genin assigned to Team Seven along with Naruto and Sakura; he was in the Land of Waves, thinking that he was dying after protecting Naruto from Haku's attack; he was in the Forest of Death, screaming in unbearable agony after Orochimaru branded him with the curse seal; Naruto was fighting to protect Sakura and himself from Gaara during the invasion by Suna and Oto; Itachi had defeated him at the hotel and was forcing him to live through Tsukuyomi again; he was waking up in the hospital after Tsunade healed him to find Sakura hugging him; he was fighting Naruto on the Konoha Hospital roof; the Sound Four were attacking him to try to convince him to join Orochimaru; Sakura was begging him to stay, confessing her love to him; he was fleeing with the Sound Four towards Otogakure no Sato; his curse seal had just been accelerated to the second state and he was awakening from his time in the barrel; he and Naruto were fighting at the Valley of the End; the two of them held hands one last time before he left for Otogakure; Orochimaru was telling him that he was 'the chosen one' who would be the next container for the Snake Sannin's soul; he met Naruto and Sakura for the first time in two and a half years and fought them; it was the day of the transfer and he had just killed Orochimaru when the Sannin tried to take over his body; he had rejoined the village, forming an agreement with Tsunade that would allow him to remain there until he could fight his brother; he was seeing his teammates as their friend for the first time in years; the Akatsuki were invading the village; Karin was attacking Sakura; he had thrown himself in the way, his life was fading, he was dying.

He was dead. That was why there was nothing. The world did not exist for him, because he was no longer among the living. He had died to save Sakura from Karin.

_At least that means that she's still alive then,_ he attempted to console himself. Really he was glad he had thrown himself in the way; he would have regretted it forever if he hadn't. But now, now that he was dead… he would never see her again. Until Sakura died (which hopefully would not be for a very long time), the two of them would be separated. Naruto too would be lost to him until the blond's time in the world was up.

Sasuke fell to his knees. He had, despite his better judgment, nursed a small hope, a dream, that after the battle, he would be allowed to be with his teammates again. He knew that that could never have come true (he had promised that the Council of Elders could punish him for his crimes after all), but some small part of him had desired it all the same. They had been… his family.

"Sasuke," someone called again. This time, he was able to recognize the voice. It was the same one that had called to him to awaken his memories, though it was different from the first two. He would know this voice anywhere.

"Itachi," he spat, feeling a surge of hatred for the man who had destroyed everything he had.

"Hello, foolish little brother," the former Uchiha heir greeted him, stepping into view. Oddly enough, Itachi's face held none of the smugness that normally manifested itself when he called Sasuke that name. Instead, if the younger Uchiha had had to name the emotion visible in his brother's face, he would have called it grief.

Sasuke noticed something else that was odd about his sibling's appearance. While his body, when he looked at it, was faded and translucent, Itachi's was bright and solid, saturated with color and glowing with vitality. Was that a sign that his brother was still among the living, while he Sasuke was dead?

Itachi took a step towards him and, instinctively, Sasuke moved to take a step back. However, something was wrong. His feet were rooted to the spot; he could not retreat from Itachi. "What's going on?" he asked. Itachi ignored him, instead continuing to move purposefully towards him, rapidly closing the distance between the two of them. Again and again Sasuke struggled to lift his foot and move away, each time only succeeding in frustrating himself further. His desperation began to show, provoking a reaction from the curse seal on the back of his neck. The black marks spread rapidly over his spiritual form like fire, just as they would have over his real body had he been alive.

This caused Itachi to halt, though he had by no means been stopped. Before Sasuke would even have been able to catch them with his Sharingan, he had performed a series of hand seals and activated a jutsu. Behind him appeared a skeletal ghost warrior holding a bottle containing some unknown substance.

"Behold," Itachi said calmly, "the final weapon in my arsenal: Susano'o."

"Su…sano'o?" Sasuke repeated. He had never heard of such a technique before. In response to the question, he felt something stirring within him, a malignant chakra that was not his own. His left eye began to change, becoming yellow and snake-like.

"The third and final technique," Itachi explained, "along with Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu that awoke within these eyes on that fateful day." In response, Sasuke's seal began to spread further, pushing him into the second state. He needed more power if he was going to face Itachi here. When he died, all of his chakra had fled his body, leaving him with the curse seal as his only weapon. But there was only so much he could do with just the seal…  
"Rgh," he gasped in pain, screwing his changed eye shut in pain. _Shall I lend you my power?_ asked a voice in his head that was not his own. This voice was hissing and snake-like… and very familiar. "Shit… no…" the young Uchiha moaned, trying to suppress the foreign power he felt stirring within him. He had none of his chakra to use to keep the beast contained; now that he had died it could go free… _Admit it, Sasuke-kun, _the voice purred,_ you need me._ "Ungh." He curled up in a defensive ball, attempting to use his willpower to suppress it. _You do want your revenge on Itachi, don't you?_ The voice asked. _You want to die in peace knowing that you've sent him to hell along with you? _"Kuh…" his limbs were trembling with effort. _Come… unleash me… and your wish will be granted._

Sasuke's flesh began to bubble sickeningly, as it did when his wings sprouted after he mutated. This was no effect of the curse seal though. Instead of his hand-like wings forming, there were snakes sprouting from Sasuke's left shoulder, growing obscenely there like a monstrous growth. "Aah," the Uchiha cried, his eyes widening as he gasped in pain. Itachi stared at his younger brother, wondering what was wrong with him. "Guaah!" As Sasuke gave a final cry of agony, the snakes burst forth fully, each one well over fifty feet tall. They hissed evilly, moving to attack Itachi's Susano'o.

"I know this feeling," the elder Uchiha brother began, "Orochimaru's Hydra technique…" The snake lurched forward, intent on its attack. The Susano'o warrior pulled the cap off of its bottle, spraying something that was not quite physical matter in the air. The substance, whatever it was, formed itself into a sword that easily loped off the attacking serpent's head. With a cry, the warrior sprang forward, attacking the snakes with its otherworldly sword. Within moments, only one of the many snakes retained its head. It hissed, rearing back its head. Something black and wet began to appear from within its mouth.

"…You finally show yourself," Itachi addressed the thing. Orochimaru pulled himself up from within the mouth of the snake, laughing insanely. He barfed up a katana, preparing to use the blade to fight Itachi.

"Here and now!" he cried. "The chance I've been waiting for has finally come! And it's all thanks to you forcing Sasuke-kun to use my curse seal when he had no chakra with which to keep me suppressed! I'll take his body for my own and defeat—" He never finished speaking. The Susano'o warrior's sword pierced the Snake Sannin through the torso, assuring his demise. Itachi smirked.

"All right, Sasuke, got anything else?" he asked mockingly.

"Kuku," Orochimaru laughed at the elder Uchiha, "you don't really think a little cut like this would be enough to stop me—" his voice cut off abruptly. The Sannin's body jarred painfully. "Th-this… it can't be," he hissed, "the Sword of Totsuka?! Itachi… you had it all along…?" His body began to melt away.

"What did you… do?" Sasuke asked his brother.

"He is gone," Itachi informed him. "The Sword of Totsuka possesses the power to seal anything it touches in a genjutsu… one that lasts for eternity. Orochimaru will never awaken from it." The final remains of the Sannin were absorbed by the Susano'o warrior, returning to its bottle along with the spiritual sword. Sasuke's flesh hissed slightly as it returned to its normal, humanoid form.

Without the threat of Sasuke's curse seal to deal with, Itachi continued forward, closing the last of the distance between the two. Sasuke's elder brother now stood directly in front of him, the same blank look as usual on his face. He raised his hand and Sasuke reflexively shrunk away from it, a little frightened now that his brother had just revealed his full power. The elder Uchiha smirked as Sasuke screwed his eyes shut in a sudden and uncharacteristic surge of fear. Sasuke didn't know why he felt so terrified of Itachi, especially when it had been his dream to fight and kill him for so long, but reasoning didn't get rid of the fear he felt. All he could understand was that he didn't want Itachi to come any closer to him. The elder Uchiha extended his index and middle fingers and, reaching out, poked Sasuke gently in the forehead. Sasuke opened his eyes, staring at his brother in shock. That was _it_? Had Itachi really come to this otherworldly place and defeated Orochimaru just so he could _poke_ him?

Itachi smiled at his confusion—not a smirk but a genuine smile.

"Farewell, otouto," he said, his voice growing faint though he was practically speaking in Sasuke's ear. "One last thing, Sasuke… stay away from… Madara. He'll try to tell you… that you were wrong. Never believe him, Sasuke. He lies. He used the Kyuubi to attack the village and he… helped me that night when… I killed our clan. He is no longer fit to be… the head… of the Uchiha clan." His body began to fall forward, as though his legs not longer possessed the strength to support it. Sasuke tensed, bracing himself for it to fall on him.

It never did. Itachi's body faded, becoming as specter-like as Sasuke's, allowing it to pass through him to fall to the ground. Even as this was happening, Sasuke's body was solidifying, the colors becoming more defined, as though Itachi's essence and spirit were being poured into him. He blinked when he started seeing pale splashes of color in the whiteness. They began to form themselves into definite shapes, the resulting scene looking like the battle that was being waged in Konoha…

Sasuke gasped as his eyes flew open. He sat bolt upright, breathing deeply as his mind struggled to process what was happening.

"Sasuke-kun!" He turned around to stare into the startled face of Haruno Sakura. Tears of joy were falling from her apple green eyes as she looked at him. "Naruto!" she cried. "Sasuke's alright; he's alright! He's alive!" Several meters away, Naruto turned to face them. The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki gasped in shock once he noticed that Sasuke was sitting up, was breathing, was alive…

"Teme?" he asked in amazement. Sasuke nodded, feeling a strong sense of déjà vu. He was reminded forcefully of an event several years ago, when they were all younger and a lot more naïve. It had been in the Land of Waves, when he woke up after he thought he had given up his life to save Naruto, and realized that Haku had consciously chosen to spare him—a decision he would never have expected from an enemy in battle. This time though, it had not been the enemy that saved him. It had been some else…

"Sasuke!" Naruto cried as the situation fully sunk in and he realized that his best friend was indeed still alive. Without a second thought he ran to them, pulling Sasuke into a bond-crushing hug that all but choked the Uchiha.

"Too tight Naruto!" Sasuke sputtered between attempts to breathe.

"Sorry," Naruto said, loosening his grip slightly but not letting go. "I just can't believe it! You stopped breathing; Sakura-chan said you were dead! And now you're fine and you're alive!" Sasuke smirked at him.

"Yes, dobe, I'm alive." Naruto grinned.

"It sure is a good thing that hag Karin didn't kill you," he said, "'cause otherwise we never would have gotten to prove who was the best. We wouldn't have been able to do that if you had gotten yourself killed." Sasuke's expression promised him that they would indeed get a chance to prove that after the battle. Naruto grinned again in anticipation.

"Come on," Sasuke said, rising to his feet.

"Sasuke-kun, you shouldn't be standing up yet," Sakura told him, concern on his behalf plainly evident in her voice. She had abandoned her use of the suffix –san, because surely Sasuke would have noticed that she said 'Sasuke_-kun_' earlier. Any further attempts to pretend that he didn't matter to her were futile.

"I'm fine, Sakura," he told her, already beginning to walk away. "Well, are you coming?"

"Coming?" she repeated. "Where?"

"Itachi," he answered simply. Naruto's face broke into a wide grin.

"So you trust us not to die after all, huh teme," he stated. Sasuke nodded once. "Yetta! C'mon Sakura-chan!" Sakura stood up and followed him, walking slightly behind Sasuke.

"Anou, Sasuke-kun," she began after about a minute. He turned to face her. "I was wondering… W-why did you do that? W-why did you save me?" She was fiddling with her hands like Hinata used to, and Sasuke could definitely see a blush spreading over her face.

"Why did I save you…" he repeated, trailing off at the end. Sakura nodded, her expression a mixture of anticipation and nervousness. Sasuke smirked. "Hn, I'd think you would be able to figure it out." Sakura looked at the ground.

"You've always called me annoying," she said sadly. "I thought it meant you hated me."

"You're wrong," he said quietly. He turned to face her. "There's no way that I hate you, Sakura." He looked almost furious with what she had said, and Sakura instinctively quailed back. There was a powerful mixture of passion and rage in Sasuke's eyes, making him look strong and dangerous and almost painfully beautiful in Sakura's mind. Her throat had suddenly become as dry as Suna's desert, and she had to swallow several times in order to be able to talk.

"How—how do you feel about me then, Sasuke-kun?" she asked him, almost afraid of the answer.

Sasuke's response was not what she had expected. Instead of one of his usual single word answers, he responded in a manner that required no speech at all. He kissed her on the lips.

Sakura's eyes widened as much as they could and for a solid half a minute she wondered if she was dreaming. Then she decided she didn't care and kissed him back. His mouth was warm and soft on hers, making her feel alive like she never had felt before. This was her first kiss, her most important kiss. As a little girl she had always thought that her first kiss would be with Uchiha Sasuke, but as she had grown up she had begun to doubt that that dream would ever become reality. Never since her teammate left the village had she even allowed herself to hope that he might return her feelings. But now he was kissing her, and it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to her.

The two of them finally broke apart for air. Sakura's face was flushed, and she could see a faint hint of redness on Sasuke's cheeks as well. He smiled down at her and lifted a hand to stroke her cheek.

"Sakura," he addressed her in that beautiful, rich voice of his. She smiled widely, almost singing with happiness.

"Yes Sasuke-kun?" He smirked at the return of the usual suffix to his name.

"You're beautiful," he told her, giving her a peck on the cheek. Her face flamed with a mixture of embarrassment and pleasure.

"Ahem." The two shinobi turned to face their third teammate; Sakura's blush intensifying (if that was even possible at this point) as she realized that Naruto had been standing there the entire time. The blond Jinchuuriki looked serious and almost reprimanding for a moment, before his face broke into a wide grin. "It's about time, teme!" he told Sasuke. "I've been waiting for you to tell Sakura how you felt for forever! Man this is so great! Sasuke finally admitted that he likes Sakura-chan, and Sakura-chan's happy 'cause he finally said that he likes her back—"

"Dobe," Sasuke interrupted him.

"Yeah teme?" Naruto asked.

"Shut up." None of them appeared to have noticed that the rain had stopped as soon as Sasuke's eyes opened and the clouds were beginning to drift away. The full moon shone down on the three Konoha ninja, looking like a mournful and remote eye of heaven.

* * *

Sakura kept staring ahead at Sasuke's back as he walked ahead of her, still unable to believe that he had been serious. He said that he loved her. _He_ loved her. Sakura's inner self had almost died of happiness when he had spoken those words. She had begun to think that her feelings would forever go unrequited, that Uchiha Sasuke was incapable of feeling such tender emotions as love. Sakura began to make plans to tell Ino about this as soon as the battle was over (her blonde friend loved to be the first one to know about any new gossip or romances), not yet knowing that she would never see Ino alive again. Her best friend would never hear Sakura tell her about her first relationship. Ino would never hear anyone tell her about anything again.

Sakura halted as Sasuke stopped walking and turned to face her and Naruto, his expression grave.

"Are you two sure that you want to come with me?" he asked. Sakura gaped and Naruto made a noise of outrage.

"Teme!" he cried. "We already told you we were coming! We promise we won't get killed by Itachi, dattebayo!" Sasuke stared at him with haunted, dead eyes.

"My parents didn't think they would be killed by him either," the Uchiha survivor said quietly. Naruto inhaled sharply at the pain in his friend's voice, while Sakura felt her heart lurch with pity. She hadn't seen her parents very often since she'd moved out of their house and into her own apartment, but at least she knew that they were still there if she ever wanted to visit. Sasuke hadn't seen his parents in almost nine years, and he wouldn't see them again until he died.

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered his name sadly, reaching out a hand to stroke his cheek. At first he stiffened at her touch, but after a moment he relaxed, closing his eyes. When he opened them, there was a hint of desperation in the look he directed at his teammates.

"I don't want to lose you two as well," he told them quietly.

"We won't die," Naruto repeated firmly, "dattebayo. I promise." Sasuke smiled sadly.

"You already failed to keep one promise, Naruto," the Uchiha reminded him. "You never did bring me back to Konoha."

"You're here, aren't you?" Naruto replied. His friend smirked. Silently he beckoned for them to follow him. Naruto grinned at his victory. "Remember," he told Sasuke, "I also know what it feels like now to lose the person you care the most about. I understand exactly what you're worried about Sasuke. But I still let you fight here."

"It's not the same," Sasuke told him.

"Why not?!" Naruto cried in exasperation. The former apprentice of the Snake Sannin smirked at him.

"Because… you're an idiot." Naruto gaped for a moment before the unavoidable shouting began.

"T-teme made a joke! He exclaimed, looking equally thrilled and horrified at the idea. He threw his arms around Sasuke who smirked again.

"Get off dobe," he said not unkindly. Naruto detached himself with a small sigh of frustration at his friend's continued refusal to allow physical contact with anyone. (Naruto conveniently chose to forget that Sasuke had just kissed Sakura a few minutes ago, an activity which definitely qualified as physical contact.) "Now come on," the Uchiha addressed his companions, already turning away. Naruto and Sakura, too used to Sasuke's lack of warmth to think anything of this rather harsh command, followed without complaint.

The entrance to the Uchiha Compound had barely changed at all in the nine years since the Massacre. It was a simply wooden archway with banners bearing the Uchiha clan crest hanging on it. The colors on the banners had faded some with the passage of time, but apart from that it was a scene taken straight out of Sasuke's childhood. If only he was going home to see his mother and father, or to visit his aunt and uncle's store now, instead of to kill Itachi…

"Come on, Sasuke-kun," Sakura addressed him gently, taking hold of his arm and gently pulling him onwards. He didn't resist, merely following her docilely through the archway and into the neighborhood in which his entire family had been slaughtered.

Less than three steps into the Compound, Sasuke stiffened. Naruto and Sakura turned to face him with puzzled looks. "I can feel his presence," Sasuke told them in a voice full of shock. "I know where he is." Without further comments he sprinted off in the direction he felt Itachi's chakra emanating from. _This chakra, it's so powerful… almost like he wants me to feel it._ He turned a corner, not halting for a second as he continued to make a beeline for his brother. _But why? Why would he want me to find him when he knows that I want to kill him? Is he mocking me? _Sasuke's expression hardened in fury at the thought. The youngest Uchiha didn't even waver when his course took him to his parents' old home and his current place of occupancy. He opened the sliding door calmly however, remembering with a small pang of sorrow his mother's voice scolding him for slamming the front door.

Sasuke moved through the old house, heading towards his brother's chakra signature. He realized exactly which room it was coming from once he stepped onto the outdoor walkway. _It figures that he would use there,_ Sasuke thought bitterly. The room where Itachi was waiting for him was also the room in which he had first found his parents' corpses on that night all those years ago.

His footsteps slowed as he neared the room. He had not bothered to mask his chakra during his furious run here; Itachi would be expecting him no matter what he did now, so he might as well not run right into an ambush. It would not do for him to screw this up again, after all those years of training with Orochimaru in the Sound Village. He had hurt Naruto and Sakura by staying away all those years—they'd better have been good for something!

His Sharingan activated as he reached for the handles on the double doors of the room, throwing them open in one powerful movement. He gasped at the scene that awaited him. Instead of Itachi boldly standing there to challenge him to a fight, his brother lay in the center of the room, as still as death itself. There were no signs of wounds of any sort, but Sasuke knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that his brother was dead. So how then had he felt that chakra signature? It had, without a doubt, been Itachi's. His Sharingan deactivated itself as he stared at the corpse, his mind lost in contemplation.

"It looks like you've won," said a voice. A man wearing a full black outfit and an orange mask stepped out of the shadows. It was he who had spoken. "Or at least, you think you have."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Note 1: Okay, that SasukeXSakura scene was **_**really**_** hard to write. I spent about two days on it alone. Sasuke's lack of emotions makes him really annoying to have to write love scenes about. I apologize if he seemed OOC, but really, how can you give **_**Uchiha Sasuke**_** the ability to show affection for anyone and keep him in character?**

**Note 2: This chapter was posted early because I will be away all long weekend and won't have access to a computer. However, I do have the next chapter mostly written out already, so I'll probably be posting that once I get back instead of making you all wait until next Saturday. (Although, it would be fun to be evil and make you all wait, especially since this chapter ended on a cliffhanger…) **


	15. Eternal Brotherhood

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Fifteen: Eternal Brotherhood

**Disclaimer: Masashi Kishimoto still owns Naruto. **

**Warning: Spoilers for Naruto manga chapters 396-402. Once again, this is not really spoilers so much as me converting the manga chapter into word form. Only this time, there will be a slight variation between the manga and what I put in here.**

* * *

_**Recap:**_

"_It looks like you've won," said a voice. A man wearing a full black outfit and an orange mask stepped out of the shadows. It was he who had spoken. "Or at least, you think  
you have."_

* * *

**Begin story**

"What do you mean 'I think I have'?" Sasuke asked. His brother had died, admittedly, but it had not been by his hand. "I didn't kill him. Of course I didn't win!"

"You desired his death, did you not? Whether you know it or not, Uchiha Itachi was indeed killed by your hand," the mysterious stranger informed him.

"He wasn't! I haven't seen him for over three years!" _Except for just now, when I… died. He appeared there, and then I managed to wake up. Did he…? _"There's no way that I killed him! But when I find the bastard that did, I swear I'll—"

"There's no need for that," the other said. "You did, in fact, kill him, so I suggest that you stop stressing yourself out over it."

"I didn't," Sasuke repeated again, his voice growing almost desperate as he fought his desire to kill this idiot now. "How could I have killed him if I haven't seen him?"

"Being stubborn, eh?" the stranger asked. "You don't remember bringing a weapon to his throat, so you assume that you didn't kill him? But you did. Believe me, Uchiha Sasuke, you did."

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked, a little annoyed by the fact that this stranger seemed to know not only Itachi's name, but his as well.

"I'm someone who has come here to tell you something important," he was informed.

"I'm not interested," Sasuke replied coldly, turning away from this man.

"I see… Maybe you'll pay attention if I say it like this…? It's about Uchiha Itachi." Sasuke turned back abruptly, his change in demeanor obvious to the other man. "There we go," he said. "You know so much about your brother, and at the same time, you know nothing.

"All right, why don't I start by introducing myself," the man said. "Much like yourself, I'm a living, breathing Uchiha." He reached for his mask, slowly lifting it off of his face. "And the man who knows the truth about Uchiha Itachi." His mask came free, revealing a fully-evolved Sharingan eye. Sasuke's Sharingan instinctively reactivated itself as his body prepared for combat.

Something very strange happened next. Sasuke's Sharingan began to change, the comma-like markings in it merging together into a new shape. Blood began to fall from his eye like a tear as his new Sharingan completed itself. His eye had become a Mangekyo Sharingan. The other Uchiha looked alarmed at the change in Sasuke's eye as his own eye widened in fear.

_Impossible,_ he thought.

Black flames sprung into being, burning the man's right shoulder. He gaped behind the strip of fabric still veiling his lower face from view, frightened by the presence of the deadly jutsu.

"Guah!" he cried in pain as his flesh began to burn. His mask fell to the floor and he tumbled backwards into the shadows, the fire still burning.

"Ngh," Sasuke gasped in pain, clutching his eye. That had _hurt_.

"Ghaah!" he heard again as the other Uchiha continued to cry in agony while his flesh was burned from his body by the black flames. "Urgh…" he moaned more softly. Sasuke meanwhile, still clutched at his eye, panting with exhaustion as though he had just fought a battle. But that was absurd; all he had done was use that one technique! It shouldn't have tired him out so easily. His Sharingan began to return to normal as he removed his hand, still panting heavily.

"What… the hell… was that?" he asked, his Sharingan deactivating itself once the Mangekyo had fully faded.

"The 'Amaterasu' that Itachi implanted into you," came the other man's voice from the shadows. His hand reached forward to grab his mask, and that too vanished into the shadows of the poorly-illuminated room. He placed it back onto his face as he stepped forward. "Itachi, Itachi, Itachi," he said in pleased exasperation, "even in death, he never ceases to amaze me. Even planning for a situation like this…"

"What," Sasuke began, "what are you saying?" The other man stepped forward, fully detaching himself from the room's shadows.

"He equipped you with his own jutsu, as a last-ditch effort to kill me. Or perhaps his intention was simply to keep me away from you. I assume he set things up so the sight of my Sharingan would automatically trigger 'Amaterasu' to activate." _Fortunately, I managed to keep a few secrets even from him_,he thought,_ if I hadn't, I'd be dead right now. _"It's what you'd call a fail-safe," he continued aloud, "although he only got as far as the 'fail' part."

"…I have no idea what you're getting at," Sasuke said.

"Look, Itachi did _something_ to you just before he died, right?"

"I never saw him die—"

"Look kid, let's drop the pretenses. Itachi died in the other world the two of you were in, got it? When his image started to fade, it was his life leaving this world. So let me repeat myself, _he did something to you just before he died, right_?" Sasuke's eyes widened with shock as he remembered. Itachi had poked him in the forehead, and then he had begun to fade. At the time Sasuke had thought it was just odd, now he learned that there was a reason behind it. "Somehow, at the last second, he transferred all his eye techniques to you," the other Uchiha informed him.

"…That makes no sense," Sasuke said. "What are you trying to say?! Why would Itachi want to—"

"You still don't know?" the other asked. "It was to protect you." Sasuke's eyes widened again.

"Pr… protect me?!" Sasuke cried in shock and disbelief. "Is that supposed to be funny?!

"As I said before," the other Uchiha said, "you knew so much about your brother, yet at the same time you knew nothing at all." Sasuke clenched his teeth. "I see talking with you is going to be difficult. I guess I understand, some weirdo appears and starts saying all these shocking things. But I assure you, I speak the truth. Itachi mentioned to you before he died that there was someone else who helped him that night. It was me. Uchiha Madara." Sasuke's eyes widened once again. "I know everything there is to know about Itachi. Of course, he died without realizing just how much."

"Enough!" Sasuke shouted, his expression one of torture. "I don't care anymore! Go away, and never come near me again!" His hand reached for his katana, only to realize it wasn't there.

"Looking for this?" Madara asked, holding up the sword. Sasuke checked for his waist pouch and the kunai holster he kept on his thigh, only to realize they were missing as well. "I think you should—" the Uchiha head began. "No, you _have_ to question me. It's your _mission_… your _duty!_" Sasuke's expression remained agonized as he mentally rebelled against the information he was receiving, against the sickening facts Madara was telling him. "You need to know about him," Madara said. "This man who risked everything to protect the shinobi world… the Leaf Village… and most of all, his little brother. You need to know about Uchiha Itachi's life!

"Well?" he asked when Sasuke didn't respond. "Do you understand why Itachi transferred 'Amaterasu' into your eyes? The last thing Itachi wanted was for you and me to cross paths. And if you listen to what I have to say, everything will make sense." Sasuke did not reply, which Madara took as a signal to continue.

"The only Leaf villagers who knew everything about Itachi were the third Hokage, his councilors Homura and Koharu, and Danzo. With the Third's passing, only three of the four old relics remain. I doubt they'll ever speak a word of their sickening knowledge to anyone.

"The truth about your brother has been hidden within a vast, infinite darkness," Madara continued. "That was undoubtedly how he wanted it. But I know the truth as well, and like I said before, he didn't realize the extent of what I'd learned. But he was no fool… He clearly didn't trust me. He accounted for the remote possibility of me finding out, and tried to shut me up permanently with Amaterasu. Apparently my revealing of my Sharingan to you in order to gain your trust was within the range of his plan."

"What… are you getting at?" Sasuke asked. "What's this guy… trying to say?" he asked himself aloud, still unable or unwilling to fully grasp what it was that Madara was telling him. "Protect me…? _Protect me…?? The… 'truth'?"_

"Think back," Madara instructed him. "Recall everything you know about Itachi… slowly… carefully." Sasuke almost looked ill with shock. "Remember your loving older brother." An image of Itachi smiling kindly at him flashed through the younger Uchiha's mind before he hurriedly banished it.

"He… he tried to kill me," Sasuke reminded himself, "tried to steal my eyes." He remembered Itachi instructing him at their house, the same smile on his face. "Ghugh! Khack!" he cried out as the memories literally became too much and actually affected his physical condition. He slumped to the floor, sitting there looking like a madman. Madara slapped his cheek.

"Get a hold of yourself," he ordered, gripping the young Uchiha's chin while crouching down next to him to be at his height. "Breathe, nice and slow."

"Get your hands off of me!" Sasuke shouted at him, shoving him away. He stared down at the ground, all the while remembering his idol. Itachi the night of the massacre, his face set in a grim expression. Itachi smiling when he'd told Sasuke that he would always be there for him the day Sasuke had brought home his first Academy report card. Itachi reaching towards him just before he died—his eyes determined and desperate even as he prepared to sacrifice his own life.

* * *

When Sasuke awoke from his memories, he was sitting on the floor, tied up. "Unh," he moaned.

"You awake?" Madara asked from where he lounged against the wall. "I took the liberty of tying you up," he explained. "I figured you wouldn't stay and listen otherwise… sorry." Sasuke's face formed an expression of great sorrow. Apparently he didn't care that he was tied up.

"He was… Itachi was my enemy," he said. "He killed my mother, my father, and everyone in my clan. He's a rouge ninja and a member of Akatsuki. I have every reason to hate him. My ambition was always to…" he continued, staring at the floor again.

"What took place on that night, and your memories of his massacring the Uchiha are real," Madara informed him. "He fled the Leaf Village immediately after."

"Then why…" Sasuke asked. Madara's Sharingan gazed at him ominously.

"All done on orders given to him by the Leaf's top officials." Sasuke's eyes widened again. **(A/N: Sorry if anyone's getting sick of me saying that his eyes widened, but I'm copying the manga here and his eyes are widening a lot. It's getting annoying to type.)** "And _that_ is where the truth about your brother begins," Madara informed him darkly.

"Orders…" Sasuke repeated, unable to fully grasp what he had just been told. "A mission…?"

"Yes. That night, Itachi left his old life behind and carried out the duty assigned to him." Sasuke stared intently back at him, though for once his eyes had remained their usual size. "You've calmed down, good," Madara observed.

"What the hell are you saying?!" Sasuke asked him, barely succeeding in keeping himself under control.

"For the rest to make sense we must first return to the founding of the Leaf." Sasuke looked curious. He had heard the telling of the founding of the village before, everyone had, but what did it have to do with his brother? "Itachi was a sacrifice," Madara explained, "the latest in a long line of fatalities; part of a huge problem dating back to the first day of the Hidden Leaf's existence—one that decided the course of Itachi's life."

"…A sacrifice?" Sasuke asked.

"Correct," Madara confirmed. "It's a very long story, but I promise you, every word of it's true." Sasuke looked curious for a second before his expression hardened.

"I'm not falling for this," he informed Madara. "I don't trust you one bit."

"I have no proof or evidence to offer," the Uchiha head told him. "You're free to believe me or not. But you _will_ listen." Sasuke closed his eyes.

"…Fine. Let's hear it," he sighed at last.

"Heh," Madara chuckled. "The story begins over 80 years ago, in an era of unrelenting violence and bloodshed. Nations crusaded for more rights; more land… the usual reasons for war. Back then, shinobi organizations weren't made of multiple clans and families. Rather, each individual clan rented its military might to the highest bidder. And amongst those countless shinobi families, only two were truly feared as the strongest. Those were the 'Uchiha' and the 'Senjuu clan of the Forest.' We Uchiha, with our unparalled chakra and Sharingan, were so gifted in the art of battle we came to be considered an army. And within this renowned clan, I was born with the greatest, strongest chakra they'd ever seen.

"My stubborn refusal to die could be considered proof of that," he told Sasuke. "I spent every waking hour in battle. In an era where power was everything I exhausted every resource I could to get more… friends… my _brother_… everything."

"You bastard," Sasuke half-snarled.

"But thanks to those efforts, I obtained a flawless Mangekyo Sharingan, and became leader of the Uchiha," Madara reminded him, as though that made anything about it right. "And with this power at my command, I often found myself pitted against the Senjuu. It was inevitable that I would one day face its leader, Hashirama. Senjuu Hashirama, the Moukuton **(wood element)** user who became the first Hokage, the greatest ninja of his time, and the only man I had ever admired." Madara paused for a moment in his tale. When he resumed it, he voice was distant, as though he had forgotten his audience through immersion in his memories.

"The first man to call himself Hokage was Hashirama, leader of the Senjuu clan… All the clans acknowledged his superiority. And everyone feared him. If Senjuu made a move, Uchiha made a move. We were the only clan who was a match for them. If one country hired Senjuu, their enemies hired Uchiha… We were rivals. As I fought Hashirama, my name became more and more well-known." Sasuke stared off into space for a moment, remembering Itachi. _To reach new heights and to test my mettle,_ Itachi had said when a much younger Sasuke had asked why he had killed their clan.

"For fame… that's why," he began, "you stole your brother's eyes?!"

"I did," Madara confirmed, "but it was because I wanted the strength to protect the Uchiha clan."

"To protect them?" Sasuke asked.

"The more famous we grew, the more enemies we made," Madara explained. "As the battles raged, sacrifices had to be made to protect the Uchiha from the Senjuu and from the other clans that opposed us. It wasn't for fame. My brother agreed to everything and offered up his own eyes." Madara's fist clenched in the cloth of his shirt as for the first time a trace of fury crept into his voice.

"But then," he continued, "the Senjuu clan asked for a truce with Uchiha… and Uchiha agreed.

"Both clans were exhausted from the endless fighting. They'd reached their limits. I was the only one to oppose the truce." Sasuke looked blankly at him, clearly wondering how he could oppose an offer of peace that would have brought an end to such bloodshed as he had described. "…Where was the hatred we'd held for each other? What had my brother sacrificed himself for?! After all, Uchiha and Senjuu were like oil and water. Eventually the Senjuu clan would exterminate the Uchiha clan… I couldn't help but think that.

"But… the rest of the Uchiha clan wanted the truce. As their leader, I had no choice but to go with their decision. Soon after, our ninja alliance made a pact with the Land of Fire, who wanted help controlling their territory. There began the system of one village per country, with Konohagakure and the Land of Fire. Other countries began mimicking the one village per country system. And with that… little by little, the fighting began to lessen. For once there was peace.

"But something soon happened that threw Konoha into chaos," he said ominously.

"…What happened?" Sasuke asked.

"There was a dispute over the position of leader… of Hokage. As you know, Hashirama was the one who gained the position. Everyone in the village and in the Land of Fire chose him… It was clear that Uchiha was quickly losing its supremacy. In order to protect Uchiha, I chose the path of leadership… I chose to oppose Hashirama… But there was no one among Uchiha who would follow me. My followers opposed me, thinking I would stir up the embers of war. They betrayed me. They said I was moved by my own desire for power. They despised me, saying I was greedy and stole my brother's eyes to save my own life. What man would willingly harm his own little brother? I just… wanted to protect Uchiha, that's all…

"I left the village… betrayed by everyone. Bent on revenge, I challenged Konohagakure.

"And I was defeated… in the place now called the 'Valley of the End.' I died there… or so they assumed. Even Hashirama thought so. I was forgotten by everyone, even history.

"Wanting to make sure another traitor like myself never arose, Hashirama's younger brother, the Second Hokage gave Uchiha a special position as a sign of trust. The Konoha Military Police were formed. But its true purpose was to distance Uchiha from the governing of the village and to keep the entire clan under surveillance. Some of the Uchiha realized what was going on. Some rebels began to follow in my footsteps… But it was already too late.

"Time passed, and Senjuu retained supremacy. The proud Uchiha Clan was nothing more than Senjuu's dogs. And it was just as I'd feared. Something happened to completely destroy Uchiha. That's right," he told Sasuke, who looked confused.

"The Nine-Tailed Fox spirit's attack 16 years ago."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked after a moment's pause.

"Uchiha's powers are the only thing that can control the Kyuubi," Madara explained. "The Konoha leaders suspected an Uchiha was behind that incident. It was a natural disaster not the Uchiha. But they were suspicious. They thought the Uchiha might be plotting a rebellion.

"After that, the Uchiha were closely guarded by Black Ops. They were forced to live in a corner of the village, and were basically segregated from the rest of the population. The Third Hokage was the only one who voiced any dissent. But his advisors and Danzo of the Black Ops refused to listen to him. After all, the Uchiha clan had never been trusted. The discrimination began. Their mistrust birthed ill-will. And eventually the suspicions became reality… the Uchiha Clan plotted a coup d'état. To take over the village…" Sasuke's eyes widened with a mixture of shock and alarm. Those were his _parents_ Madara was talking about. Sixteen years ago, his father would have been the head of the Uchiha clan. Had his father really planned to overthrow the village leaders?

"So the Konoha higher-ups planted a spy in the Uchiha clan," Madara stated. "That spy was your brother… Uchiha Itachi." Sasuke's eyes widened again and his expression became one of horror. "And that's where Itachi's hell began."

"The Uchiha planned a coup d'état…?" Sasuke repeated, cold sweat beading on his brow. "And Itachi… was a spy?"

"Though you were part of Uchiha, you were kept in the dark," Madara explained. "You were too young." Sasuke's expression did not calm in the slightest. "But this is the truth. Your father, Fugaku, was the ringleader behind the coup d'état." Sasuke's mouth dropped open and he gasped in shock. **(A/N: Amazingly enough, Sasuke did actually do that in the manga. The ice cube thaws!) **"And Itachi entered the Black Ops as a spy on your father's orders," Madara continued ruthlessly. Sasuke forcibly recalled an event long past.

_One night he had been woken up by loud voices coming from one of the other rooms in the house. Curious, as all small children are, he had gone to investigate. His father had been speaking with Itachi, reprimanding him for something. "Itachi," he had said, "you are the pipe connecting the clan to the village… You understand, don't you?"_

"But… the opposite happened," Madara stated. "Itachi gave the village info on Uchiha. He was what they call a 'double agent.' You probably can't even imagine how hard that was on him."

"Why?" Sasuke shouted suddenly. "Why did Itachi betray Uchiha?"

"You haven't seen war," Madara explained, "so you can't understand." Sasuke's eyes widened and he looked confused. Madara went on. "During the Third Ninja War, Itachi had already seen many people die at the tender age of four. He was too young to experience war. War is hell. That trauma made him a peaceful man who hated conflict. He put the stability of the village first and worked towards peace… That's what kind of man he was. He loved the village, not wrapped up in clan differences. The village elders used that to their advantage. They gave him a secret mission. An eye for an eye… only someone with the Sharingan would be a match for Uchiha." Sasuke looked as though he finally understood and faced it with the numbness that comes from having too many shocking truths revealed in too little time.

"That's right," Madara said, noticing his look. "His mission… was the annihilation of the entire Uchiha Clan." Sasuke grimaced in agony as he was forced to face the painful truth.

"I cannot even begin to imagine," Madara said, "his mental state then. He was faced with a horrible choice. The betrayal of his family should have been an inconceivable choice. But if a clan like Uchiha started a civil war, it would shake the foundations of both Konohagakure and the entire Land of Fire. Other countries would surely take that as an opportunity to attack. No doubt it would trigger a fourth ninja war. Many would die, including those with no ties to the ninja world, all for the sake of the Uchiha Clan's self-interest." The youngest Uchiha faced the ground, fighting down tears. His parents… his beloved parents had been the ones planning this.

"What would you have done if you were Itachi?" Madara asked him. Sasuke did not answer. He could not answer. "So Itachi made his decision; he would close the book on the clan's history with his own hand." Sasuke inhaled sharply. "He didn't betray them out of hatred… he had no choice. The village's prejudice… and the fruits of that antagonism, he took it all on himself. No one can blame him for the sacrifice he made."At the time, I myself was looking for an opportunity for war," Madara told him. "I was bitter towards both Senjuu and Uchiha. But Itachi realized that. He was the only one who'd figured out I was still alive. He approached me and made me an offer. In return for allowing me to get revenge on Uchiha… he asked me not to harm the rest of the village. I said I would help annihilate my family.

"However, the Third Hokage had other plans. He tried to reach a truce with Uchiha." Sasuke's eyes closed almost completely in an expression of great sorrow. He already knew what the result would have been of the Sandaime's efforts. "But time pressed on… and he failed. It all led to that night." Sasuke's own memories took over the tale at this point. _That night_… it was the clearest memory he possessed. No matter how hard he had tried to forget, time had not blurred the images burned into his young mind on that fateful night. Clearest of all was the picture of Itachi standing over the lifeless bodies of his parents dressed in his ANBU battle uniform. It was a horrible sight Sasuke could never forget.

"It was his duty," Madara insisted. "Killing his own clan, and leaving the village in dishonor… it was all part of his duty. And Itachi fulfilled it… Except for one mistake." Here Madara paused, allowing the full gravity of what he was saying to sink in. "He was unable… to kill his own brother." Sasuke's expression froze in a mask of horror. What… what was this guy saying?

"Afterwards, Itachi pleaded with the Third Hokage to protect you from Danzo and the Elders. Then after threatening Danzo, he left the village. 'If you lay a hand on Sasuke,' he said, 'I'll tell everything there is to know about Konoha Village to every hostile nation in the world.' He was so worried about you. But he couldn't tell you the truth. So this was all he could say." Sasuke remembered when he had met his brother that night after being exposed to Tsukuyomi for the first time. He had fled the room, only to find Itachi waiting for him on one of the roads leading out of the Compound.

_"No way. This isn't you," a much younger Sasuke had sobbed. "You…"_

_"I played the role of the brother you wanted," Itachi had told him, "to test your mettle… Now you will be the one to test mine. You have the potential hidden within you. Even as you've hated me, you've longed to surpass me. That's why I let you live… for my own ends._

_"…My foolish little brother… If you want to kill me, settle for hating me until you can! Hate me, and live, like the coward you are… clinging to life, without honor! Then when you have the same eyes as I do, come to me." Darkness closed on his younger self's vision as Itachi said the last words. His brother had used the Mangekyo Sharingan on him again, though this time it was only to knock him out._

Here and now, Sasuke's body shook with shivers of cold horror.

"He gave you revenge as your goal," Madara said, "in order to make you stronger. He wanted you to believe… that Uchiha was a clan Konohagakure would be proud of. He begged Hokage not to tell you the truth.

"Since the day he left the village, he planned to fight you and die by your hand, so that you would gain a new power. This is the truth about Itachi."

"…Lies…" Sasuke hissed. "…Lies…" Madara turned to face him, a little uncertain at his reaction. "You have to be lying…" The youngest Uchiha's eyes were haunted with terror. If Madara was telling the truth now… "It makes no sense," he said. "He's hated me all these years. He's used two of his Mangekyo Sharingan techniques on me, and he would have used the third one too if he had needed it."

"You played your part exactly as he assumed. Realize that Itachi had a good reason to push you to do what you did." He paused to give Sasuke a moment to mull that over. "And I'm sure you've already figured out what it was, right?"

_"So you finally show yourself," Itachi addressed the thing rising out of the snake. Susano'o's sword pierced Orochimaru clean through, sealing him within a genjutsu. Sasuke's flesh began to bubble as it returned to its normal, humanoid form._

Without even looking, Sasuke knew what had changed because of that. For the last three-and-a-half years, Orochimaru's curse seal had lain on the back of his neck; surrounded by the precautionary seal Kakashi had placed in an attempt to seal away its powers. Now, without even bothering to check, Sasuke knew that the back of his neck was bare of any such seal.

"To free you from the curse seal," Madara finished. "Itachi planned every last detail of what has happened to you tonight, all for the sake of your protection." Sasuke's eye partially closed as his tired mind processed what was being said.

"Seems like this is all finally sinking in…" Madara said from his position against the wall. Sasuke half turned to glance at him out of the corner of his eye.

"You're lying!" he said forcefully. "You, Madara, were the one who used the Nine-Tails to attack the village! Itachi told me everything!" In his mind, he heard the voice of his now-dead brother repeating his final words. _"One last thing, Sasuke… stay away from… Madara. He'll try to tell you… that you were wrong. Never believe him, Sasuke. He lies. He used the Kyuubi to attack the village and he… helped me that night when… I killed our clan. He is no longer fit to be… the head… of the Uchiha clan."_ "You framed the Uchiha!" Sasuke cried in outrage. "You and Itachi were just toying with us all!"

"I'm afraid that's a lie, Sasuke," Madara informed him calmly. "Itachi never stopped worrying that you'd learn the truth. So to prevent the slightest chance of that happening, he fed you a false story to make sure you'd never trust me. And on top of that, he even implanted his Amaterasu in your own eyes."

"Why the fuck should I believe any of this?!" Sasuke shouted. **(A/N: Sasuke has really bad language. I apologize for that, but I'm just copying down what the manga chapter says.)** "It was Itachi! He was the bad guy! He slaughtered the whole clan and joined Akatsuki! He was guilty!"

"After having left the village, burdened by an unforgivable crime, he joined 'Akatsuki' in order to keep watch on that dangerous organization from the inside," Madara explained. "He never lost his love for the Leaf Village. Or you.

"When the Third Hokage, the man who'd promised to keep you safe, died, he returned to the village immediately. All to remind Danzo and the Councilors 'I'm still alive.' Your safety was his number one prior—"

"Enough!" Sasuke interrupted furiously. "Lies! This is all—"

"You're still alive, aren't you?" Madara interrupted in turn. Sasuke's eyes widened. "'People live their lives bound by what they accept as correct and true. That is how they define 'reality.' But what does it mean to be 'correct' or 'true?' Merely vague concepts… their 'reality' may all be a mirage. Can we consider them to simply be living in their own world, shaped by their beliefs?'" he quoted. "At least," he continued, "that's what Itachi would have said. Your eyes didn't see through him one bit. Every single illusion he created, you accepted.

"Itachi," the Uchiha head began, stepping towards Sasuke, "killed his friends… his superiors… his girlfriend… his father… his mother… but he couldn't kill his little brother." He drew a kunai. Before Sasuke even had time to flinch away from the knife, Madara had cut through the ropes tied about Sasuke's body, freeing the younger Uchiha from his bonds. "Crying his bloody tears, he killed his emotions, exterminated his kinsmen to save his village… but he couldn't kill you. Is this getting through to you?" he asked. Sasuke stared back at him with wide eyes.

"To him, your life," Madara began, "weighed more than the village. Up until the moment of his death—no, even through death itself… he was trying to keep you safe. Disease was eating away at him from the inside, and he knew his time was short. He took all kinds of medicine just to keep himself alive… all for his beloved little brother.

"Do you know what technique was used to return you to life? I believe that your two friends would be familiar with it. It is a technique that transfers the life of the user into the dead body of another, allowing them to return the dead to the realm of the living. But there is a cost. In order to save the life of one who has passed beyond this world and onto the next, the user must sacrifice their own life. When Itachi brought you back from the dead… he gave up his own life to do so.

"To protect peace in the Leaf Village, and most importantly, Uchiha Sasuke… yourself… he lived as a traitor, a fugitive, a criminal, praying for the release of death. He traded his pride for disgrace… and your love for your hatred and even still, Itachi died with a smile on his face. He left the name of 'Uchiha' to you, and deceived you all the way to the end." Sasuke turned to face the floor, his eyes half-lidded as he mulled this information over.

"How…" he began. "When I was heading here, I felt Itachi's chakra flaring. How is it that I felt that, if he was already dead?" Sasuke asked, his voice so full of resignation that it sounded as though he almost didn't care anymore.

"Itachi and I are very similar, did you know that?" Madara asked. Sasuke gritted his teeth in annoyance at the other man's evasiveness, but still did not comment. "The two of us are almost exactly identical, in fact, an odd thing considering the generations that separate us. Like everything else about us, his chakra signature and mine are almost identical. To you, who has not had very prolonged contact with your brother for almost nine years, the difference would have been imperceptible. It was not Itachi's chakra you were feeling, Sasuke. It was mine."

"…Why?" Sasuke asked. "Why did you want me to come here then?"

"Haven't I already answered this?" Madara replied, sounding mildly annoyed at having to repeat himself. "Because, even though Itachi wanted otherwise, you needed to know the truth about him. It was your duty to understand why he did what he did. He's your elder brother. And he's the man who sacrificed his life to save yours." Sasuke closed his eyes. Without waiting for the younger Uchiha to question him further, Madara performed a quick hand seal.

"Shunshin no Jutsu," he whispered. And with that, he was gone.

* * *

Sasuke was still sitting in the same position when Naruto and Sakura entered the room several minutes later.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura addressed him hesitantly. He turned to face her, his eyes haunted.

"Where were you guys?" he asked.

"There was some kind of weird chakra blocking this place off," Naruto answered. "As soon as you ran off it was like we were being shoved out of the Compound. We didn't take that well, so we fought back. And then suddenly, it just went away!" Sasuke knew what had happened. Madara had used his chakra, somehow, to keep the two of them out of the Compound, so that they wouldn't be able to find Sasuke and interfere with his and Madara's conversation. It had let up when Madara left, because he no longer needed to keep them away from Sasuke. He nodded to Naruto to indicate that he accepted the explanation.

"You killed your brother, didn't you?" Sakura asked. Sasuke closed his eyes lest Naruto or Sakura notice the sudden surge of guilt and sorrow that had appeared in them.

"Yeah. I did." They had no idea how much that idea now hurt him. They didn't understand that he had been wrong. Itachi had never deserved to die. And neither one of them knew it. Both of them were happy for him—happy that he had killed his own sibling, happy that he had just murdered a completely innocent person. They were happy, because they did not know the truth. Like Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura had believed Itachi's lies; they too had thought that his little brother had meant nothing to the man and that Sasuke had been left alive out of some sick urge to make the seven-year-old boy suffer more than he already had.

_And I can't tell them otherwise,_ Sasuke realized as he opened his onyx eyes to look at them. Naruto had the same idiotic yet heartwarming grin plastered on his face that Sasuke remembered so well from their Genin days, and Sakura was smiling kindly at him, glad that his duty had been completed and he could finally live his own life. They both felt a sense of release because _he_ was no longer hurting inside. They cared about him, even after all the wrong he had done them. He had troubled them with his burden of revenge for many years now. They had had to suffer because he had been too obsessed with killing Itachi to tell them even once how much they meant to him. And they hadn't minded. Instead of hating him or abandoning him, they had supported him as much as they could, and they had waited for him all those years he had been at Orochimaru's. They had both given so much of themselves to him, in the hope that he could someday find happiness. There was… no way that he could tell them that it had all been for nothing.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Note 1: Wow, this chapter did not take a very long time to write at all. Probably because all I really did for most of it was type the manga chapters out. Hey, those actually **_**do**_** take a while to type out. **_**Much**_** longer than they do to read.**

**Note 2: And that, my friends, is why Itachi is good. He prevented the fourth world war and sacrificed his entire time among the living to work for the good of others. He's like Naruto, except that Naruto is actually acknowledged now. Itachi never was. Moment of silence to honor Itachi.**

**Note 3: To those of you who have the story on story alert, and those that don't but want to check it out, I changed the summary when I posted this chapter. I was wondering if you guys liked it better than the old one, or if the old one was better, or if you don't care either way. Please tell me!**


	16. Eternal Lies

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Chapter Sixteen: Eternal Lies

**Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto, and I am just a kid with a computer and too much spare time now that it's summer.**

**A/N: Danzo makes an appearance in here. I apologize in advance if he seems OOC, but he really hasn't made enough actual appearances yet for me to be able to determine how he would act. Basically I just made him act like the absolute villain, because I'm really annoyed with him at the moment.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I got a lot of nice comments last chapter, and I just want everyone to know that I really appreciated them!**

* * *

It seemed as though there was nothing again. The emptiness he felt was similar to that of being dead, though this time that emptiness was but an illusion. After all, when he had been dead, there truly had been nothing left in his world except for that blinding whiteness. Now, there were sights and sounds and smells all around him. He just couldn't sense them.

He knew Naruto and Sakura were talking beside him. He could even hear a murmuring that he assumed was the sound of their voices. But the murmurs would not resolve into words, and they never rose loud enough in his mind to sound like anything other than a muted background track. Sasuke stared at his two companions with haunted, dead eyes, for once grateful for Naruto's obliviousness and Sakura's acceptance of anything he might say to her. All it had taken had been a simple confirmation that, yes, he was alright, and no, Madara hadn't hurt him, and they had left him alone.

Of course, they had by no means abandoned him, and they certainly weren't ignoring him. To say that they were doing so would be to insult the unwavering loyalty that his two childhood teammates had shown Sasuke, even after all these years. No, they were merely assuming that he wasn't responding to their voices because he had never responded to their attempts at conversation over the years and they surely did not expect him to start now. For this, he was grateful; because there was no way that he could tell them the truth.

He turned to look at them out of the corner of his eye. Sakura caught his gaze and smiled encouragingly. She appeared to have misinterpreted his silence as disbelief that he really _had_ killed Itachi after all this time, instead of the guilt it was.

"Daijoubu, Sasuke-kun?" she asked him, apparently slightly concerned by his appearance even though she did not really suspect anything yet. Sasuke barely even registered the question, his mind back to the problem of Itachi. His brother had been innocent after all, and he had rewarded that by trying to kill him. If only those bastards on the Council of Elders had given the mission to someone else, anyone besides his brother.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked again when he did not respond to her first question. "Are you alright?" There was real concern in her voice, something he had always found it hard to retain his uncaring façade in the face of. He had never done anything to deserve the undying devotion Sakura showed him, yet she had given it to him all the same. That fact had pierced him deeper than he cared to admit. She genuinely wanted to know if anything was wrong with him. And yet, as he realized before, to know the truth would only hurt her. She had already had to suffer those three years that he had left—he couldn't bear to tell her that it had been for nothing and to burden her with his problems once again. There was no way he could do that to her, or to Naruto. Sasuke fixed a smirk on his face, trying to fool the two people who knew him best with a mask of ease.

"I'm fine, Sakura," he told her, managing to keep any traces of his inner turmoil from making their way into his voice. She touched his upper arm gently, letting him know through the silent gesture that she wasn't convinced, but would take the explanation since he refused to tell her what it was that was bothering him.

"Well, um, the Ame-nin and Oto-nin retreated once the barrier vanished," she said. Sasuke turned to face her, mildly interested by this. He had not noticed, but now that he thought to look for it, there were a suspicious lack of battles being fought around them. In fact, it was almost completely… calm.

"Yeah," Naruto confirmed. "I guess they were all just too scared to face us once we had Sasuke on our side too." He'd put his arms behind his head just as he had when they were all kids, the same confident yet amusing expression on his face that Sasuke remembered. The Uchiha, of course, knew the reason for the sudden absence of foes. Without their leader, Madara, telling them to fight on, the ninja of Amegakure and Otogakure had no real quarrel with Konoha. Their retreat had probably begun just after the head of the Uchiha Clan fled.

"We should probably ask Tsunade-shishou about it," Sakura said, unaware of her teammate's knowledge. "I'm sure she'd know why they left…" she trailed off as she noticed Sasuke's expression. His face had darkened as soon as she mentioned Tsunade, and it only took Sakura a moment to realize why. The Uchiha survivor still had to face the consequences of the bargain he'd made with Tsunade. He… he had to turn himself over to the village without complaint, and allow them to punish him as they saw fit. They would probably… kill him.

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered, suddenly afraid at the thought of losing him. Naruto glanced at her, confused, before he too remembered.

"Teme…" Even Konoha's Number One Hyperactive Knucklehead Ninja was at a loss for words. Instead he put an arm about Sasuke's shoulders, hugging him in a brotherly manner. For once, Sasuke did not shy away from his touch. Instead he turned to face Naruto, emotions brimming in his usually empty onyx eyes. Naruto could read the unspoken message there. _Thank you._

"No problem," he replied aloud. Despite Naruto's natural optimism, it was a subdued Team Seven made their way towards the Hokage Tower.

* * *

"Tsunade-baa-chan!" Naruto shouted from outside of Tsunade's (miraculously still in tact) office, banging on her door as he did so.

"Come in!" the lady Hokage's voice ordered them from within. "And stop trying to bash my door in, Naruto!"

"I was not trying to bash it in!" Naruto cried in outrage as he opened said door and stepped into the presence of the Godaime Hokage. "I was just knocking." Sasuke rolled his eyes as the Uchiha recalled his own experience with Naruto's "knocking."

Tsunade's eyes fell on him, and without any of them saying a word, she knew what it was they were here about. Her demeanor instantly switched to that of a serious Hokage.

"Uchiha Sasuke," she addressed him, turning to give him the full force of her stare. Sasuke returned her gaze, not displaying a single trace of fear. Tsunade sighed. "Uchiha, I'll have you know that I'm against this. I lost my own teammate when I was young as well. To you three, Orochimaru is an evil man, but to me he was the companion of my youth. I know what it feels like to lose someone with whom you share that bond. I'm not in a hurry to make Naruto and Sakura experience that pain. However—"

"However," said a voice from the corner of the room, "she does not have a choice." Danzo of ROOT stepped into view, his hands on his cane and a satisfied expression on his face. "Isn't that right, Tsunade-hime?" The blonde Hokage openly glared at the aged man before her.

"That is correct," she all but spat at him. Danzo turned to face Sasuke, his satisfaction becoming more pronounced as he did so.

"You, Uchiha Sasuke, entered in a bargain with the village, correct?" he asked in a tone that stated plainly that he already knew the answer.

"Correct," Sasuke stated crisply, displaying for the man his famous 'Uchiha Glare.'

"You are aware of the terms of said bargain, correct?" Danzo asked, ignoring the furious looks he was now being sent by Sasuke's teammates.

"Correct."

"You are aware of your crimes against the village, correct?"

"Correct." Danzo smirked at his answer.

"Then we have nothing more to discuss," he stated simply. "I have already spoken with Himura and Koharu regarding this matter, and they have agreed with me. You, Uchiha Sasuke, are sentenced to death at dawn two days from now." Sakura's heart seemed to have forgotten how to beat.

"You can't do that!" she screamed, not caring for the moment that he was one of the most powerful people in the Hidden Leaf Village. Right now, Danzo was only the man who wanted to take Sasuke away from them again. He could have been the daimyo and she wouldn't have cared. Danzo turned to face her, an apathetic look in his single visible eye.

"I'm afraid I can," he said. "Uchiha Sasuke has a bargain with the village. He was allowed to remain here until Uchiha Itachi was killed. In return, once that happened, we would be allowed to decide his punishment without restrictions."

"But… you…" she was sobbing now, but she didn't care. She had to make this man change his mind, otherwise Sasuke was… Sasuke would be… "You bastard!" she cried, tears flowing freely down her face. Sakura's fists were trembling with rage, and it wouldn't be long before attacks began. Then again, if this guy kept looking at her with that pleased expression, she could attack sooner…

"Sakura," Sasuke addressed her without turning away from Danzo, "enough."

"Sasuke-kun?" she asked, uncertain as to why he was telling her to stop. On Sasuke's other side, Naruto also looked confused. He appeared to be just as eager for Danzo's convenient death as she was.

"I made the bargain, Sakura. I'm not going to have you and Naruto destroy your own lives on my behalf. You can't attack him. It would only hurt you two at this point."

"And this isn't?!" she sobbed furiously at him. He turned to face her, his onyx eyes containing the same determination and acceptance they had held in the dream she had had… had it really only been two days ago? It felt like another lifetime.

"There are consequences for what I've done, Sakura. I have to accept them." Her lip quivered at the casual tone he had spoken with. Did he really feel so little fear at the though of his own death?

"Very good, Uchiha," Danzo addressed him. "You certainly understand your duty, far better than your brother did." The barb was obviously intended to cut into the wound to his heart Sasuke had received upon hearing the news that Itachi had been innocent. However, instead of weakening him, Danzo's comment appeared to revive the Uchiha's fighting spirit. It was Sasuke's Sharingan that Danzo found himself looking at when the former apprentice of the Snake Sannin turned to face him again.

"Never," Sasuke said dangerously, "insult him again. You've already done enough damage there." The ROOT commander's eyes widened slightly in barely perceptible alarm at the fury he heard in the former Konoha-nin's voice. "Itachi did not deserve to be used like that."

"W-wait a minute," Naruto stammered, taken aback for once in his life. "What's going on? I thought Sasuke hated Itachi! Why's he standing up for him?!"

"They don't know?" Danzo inquired mockingly, appearing to have regained his composure in a remarkably short amount of time. Sasuke shook his head, glaring at the old man as if daring him to say anything further.

"We don't know what?" Sakura asked.

"You don't know the truth about Sasuke's brother, Uchiha Itachi, and what he did."

"Of course we know that!" Naruto cried. "Itachi was a bastard who killed his family and Sasuke killed him."

"No," Sasuke informed them quietly before Danzo could. "He wasn't. I was wrong. Itachi was a good man."

"Huh?!" Naruto cried. Was this really Sasuke? There was no way in a million years that Sasuke would be defending Itachi against _anything_! The younger Uchiha hated his brother with every fiber of his being; he had even risked his life to gain power from Orochimaru in order to kill him. Why then was Sasuke defending Itachi against Danzo now?

"Itachi…" Sasuke began quietly, "sacrificed his life to save mine. He's the only reason I'm not dead right now."

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura breathed. Sasuke grimaced.

"That man," he said, pointing at Danzo, "along with the Council of Elders, is to blame. Nine years ago, they ordered my brother to wipe out the Uchiha Clan." Sakura, Naruto, and even Tsunade gasped audibly. It appeared that the new Hokage had not been informed of her Councilors' past actions.

"Itachi failed the mission, of course," Danzo stated. Sasuke glared at him, his eyes full of the hatred that had previously been reserved for Itachi. "His orders were to wipe out the Uchiha Clan. But he didn't. He left one alive." He smirked. "Your teammate," he informed Naruto and Sakura, "Sasuke."

You could have heard a pin drop in the silence that followed.

"Wh-what?" Sakura finally stammered. "Wh-what are you saying?" Danzo turned to face her.

"Itachi did not act on his own when he killed the Uchiha Clan. It was an order. However, he disobeyed us, at least in part. We ordered the annihilation of every Uchiha. Itachi followed this almost to the letter, killing any Uchiha he met that night, down to every last civilian and child. Until he came to the last one. _That_ one," he said, pointing. "His younger brother. Itachi found himself unable to kill Sasuke; the only sentimental attachment he had. He was able to kill his closest friend, his mother, his father, his girlfriend, but he never managed to kill the youngest of them all. Of course, he lied to Sasuke afterwards, saying that it had only been to test his power or some other such nonsense, but he still allowed him to live." Danzo looked furious at the idea, something that only served to increase Naruto's hatred of the man. He had _wanted_ an innocent seven-year-old killed?! Even if Sasuke had not been the man he considered to be his brother, the idea would have sickened Naruto to no end. What kind of monster desired the deaths of innocents, much less the deaths of innocent children? _This guy… _Naruto gritted his teeth to hold back the furious comments he wanted to make.

"Th-then Itachi—" Sakura began.

"Is the reason that Sasuke is still alive," Danzo finished for her. "He blackmailed the Council of Elders, threatening to go public with his mission and leak village secrets to enemy nations if we did anything to hurt Sasuke, and he requested that Sarutobi look after him. The Sandaime being the sentimental fool he was, he agreed to do it." He looked very annoyed with the idea, though not nearly as annoyed as Sasuke. The Uchiha survivor had gritted his teeth and was glaring at Danzo with an expression that brought to mind the phrase "if looks could kill."

"Urusai!" he shouted. "Baka! I never wanted them to find that out! They were supposed to think that I accomplished my revenge and that was the end of it." A note of real pain had crept into his voice at the end. He hadn't wanted Naruto and Sakura to have to go through this. If they at least thought that he had not had any unfinished business when he died, then maybe that knowledge would have made it easier for them. They weren't supposed to know that he had accomplished nothing with his life except causing others pain. But now…

"Is… is what he's saying true, teme?" Naruto asked him, hesitant for once in his life. Sasuke grimaced.

"Aa; it's true, Naruto," he replied.

"Then… why didn't you want to tell us?" Sasuke sighed, his expression still one of great pain.

"Because then you would only blame yourselves for it."

Neither one had anything to say to that. As much as they wanted to argue with Sasuke, there was nothing about his statement that they could protest. Both of them already knew that it was true.

"Still," Sakura said, "we're your friends, Sasuke-kun. We want to know when you're hurt."

"I know," he replied so quietly that Sakura was not even sure he had said it at all.

"Then why didn't you tell us?!" Naruto cried.

"I don't want you two to be hurt again." Both of his teammates were stunned to silence by the statement. Had _Uchiha Sasuke_ just said that he didn't want them to be hurt? One thing had always been true about Sasuke in the past, and that was that he refused to admit to someone's face exactly how much they meant to him. If the situation hadn't been so grave, Naruto would have thrown his arms around his friend right then and there, shouting something in Sasuke's poor ear about how the ice cube was melting or some other statement that would cause the Uchiha to rethink exactly how much he cared about his blond companion.

"That's very touching," began Danzo in a tone that told everyone quite plainly that he didn't care in the least, "but if you would come with me, Uchiha."

"Nani?!" Naruto cried in outrage. "Why the heck would he go anywhere with you?!"

"To avoid the risk that he may attempt to flee from his punishment, Uchiha Sasuke will be kept in the custody of the village until the time of his execution," the head of ROOT stated calmly.

"WHAT?!" Naruto and Sakura cried in unison.

"He is not to be allowed visitors, nor will you be allowed to speak with him at the execution."

"You can't do that!" Naruto shouted. "Teme, tell him he can't do that to you!"

"It's fine, Naruto," Sasuke said calmly. "I agreed to this deal; now I have to uphold my end of it."

"So you pick now to start being all responsible?! You didn't keep your half of the deal with Orochimaru when you said you'd let him have your body!" Sasuke winced at the mention of his deal with the Snake Sannin.

"That was because he had no intention of fulfilling his," the Uchiha informed him. "The Council, on the other hand, allowed me to kill Itachi before mentioning this."

"But you don't even want Itachi dead anymore! You wish that you hadn't killed him!"

"No, I don't want him dead," said Sasuke, his voice full of pain, "but the deal was that I would be allowed to kill him, in exchange for them being allowed to punish me as they saw fit afterwards. It never said that I would be let off if I decided to change my mind after completing my revenge."

"But… you…" Sakura sobbed, tears once again flowing freely down her face.

"I will accept my fate," Sasuke said, the finality in his voice telling them that it was no use arguing with the Uchiha. Naruto froze at the thought that Sasuke really would die here; his best friend would cease to exist. His body began to shake slightly with a mixture of rage and fear.

"You can't do that," he told Danzo quietly, dangerously.

"My dear boy I'm afraid I can," he was informed. "Uchiha entered into a bargain with the village. I am completely justified in choosing to act on my part of the deal."

"You can't," Naruto said again, a trace of desperation creeping into his voice. "Or else… or else… Sakura-chan and I will do what Itachi threatened to do! We'll leave the village, and we'll spill all its secrets to enemy nations! I'm not going to support a place that killed my best friend!"

"Naruto." To everyone's surprise, it was Sasuke that chose to protest. "Naruto, think this through. For once in your life, don't just act on a stupid impulse. I'll be dead. Leaving the village won't bring me back. Think of the consequences to yourselves. You'll be labeled as missing-nin and never allowed to return. Think of all the other friends you have here. Kakashi, Iruka, Hinata, Lee. You'd never be able to see any of them again."

"It doesn't matter. I'm not staying here if they kill you, Sasuke." Sakura's expression resolved itself at his words. Without even asking her, Sasuke knew that she too was prepared to do as Naruto had threatened. She would throw away her life, all for the memory of someone who had never truly acknowledged her until his last few moments.

"We would do it, Danzo," she stated calmly. "I was Tsunade-shishou's apprentice, and one of the few people she's ever fully trusted. I know things about the village that foreign nations would kill to find out." The determination in her face assured the old man that she wasn't lying. A glance at her blond companion confirmed his willingness as well. Of course the Jinchuuriki would betray them in the end. Danzo had never liked him, even when the rest of the villagers had begun to show signs of trusting and even caring about him. He had always known that the demon vessel would be the thing that would finally destroy his beloved village. They had boxed him into a corner, where his only two options were to either allow the secrets of his home to be revealed, and Konoha consequently destroyed, or…

"Fine," he said, trying and failing to keep the fury out of his voice in an attempt to preserve at least some of his pride. "Uchiha Sasuke will not be executed by the village. He will be allowed to remain here, if he so chooses, but his life belongs to him." Sakura felt like singing as tears of happiness pooled in her eyes. Sasuke wouldn't be killed! He could stay with her, in the village!

"However," Danzo continued, "there will be consequences for his actions." Naruto looked ready to retort (mostly likely with violence and swearing), but Danzo interrupted him. "I am sure that you agree this is just," he said. "Uchiha has betrayed the village, joined with one of our enemies, and attempted to murder our ninja. There must be _some_ consequence for these actions, don't you agree?" Naruto opened his mouth, probably to say that no, he didn't agree, so Danzo interrupted again. "Or perhaps you think we should have let Orochimaru come back here unchallenged as well?"

"That's completely different!" Naruto shouted, furious that his friend was being compared to his snake-like former mentor.

"No, it's not," Sasuke said quietly, surprising them once again with his willingness to incriminate himself. "He did the same things I did, Naruto. Are you saying that he should go unpunished? Or," he paused, "are you just trying to avoid punishment for your friend?" Had Naruto been the Naruto he had been three years ago, he probably would have tried to come up with some excuse as to exactly why Sasuke was different from Orochimaru. But the new older, wiser (to a degree) Naruto understood Sasuke's words. Really, he was only trying to save his friend, and that was no excuse for Sasuke not to be punished. But still, to hear his closest friend compared to Orochimaru like that…

"You accept responsibility then, Uchiha?" Danzo asked him. Sasuke nodded. "Your trial will be in two days." With that statement, the head of ANBU's ROOT left the room. Naruto turned to Sasuke, his expression grave. He quickly schooled his features into a warmer appearance however, smiling at his first friend.

"Come on, guys," he addressed not only Sasuke but Sakura as well. "We should probably head home for the night… er, morning." Sasuke rolled his eyes in familiar annoyance before following him. Sakura however hung back.

"Are you mad at me, shishou?" she asked once her male teammates were out of earshot. "I used my position as your apprentice for such disloyal reasons..."

"Haruno Sakura," her mentor addressed her, her tone serious.

"Y-yes?" she stammered, preparing herself for the scolding she knew was to come.

"I'm proud of you for using your position to stand up for your friend."

* * *

Sasuke stood outside of the Konoha Military Police Headquarters at dawn two days later, gazing up at the symbol on the old building with a slightly pained expression. He remembered coming here when he was younger; visiting his dad on days he had off from the Academy, and that day when Itachi had carried him home after he had sprained his ankle training. He swallowed the lump that had risen in his throat at the memory of his older brother. He needed to be strong now. The purpose for which he had come here today was far more serious than the innocent visits of his youth. With a deep breath to prepare himself, Sasuke opened the front doors and entered the building, heading towards the court room in the back.

The court room was the one room in which he had never before set foot. His father had forbidden him to enter it, saying that it was no place for a child, and he had possessed no desire to go against that order even after Fugaku's death at the hands of his eldest child. When Sasuke set foot in the Konohagakure Military Courtroom for his criminal trial, the sight of the imposing room carried the full weight it was expected to have for first-time legal offenders. Shinobi never underestimate the power of intimidation.

The courtroom was by no means fancy. It was made of simple wood, and was in no way vast. There were a few rows of benches in the back of the room for people to sit in who were not involved in the trial but had a decent reason to be there, such as the friends and family of the accused or the victim. As expected, Naruto and Sakura's anxious faces could be seen there, along with the rest of the Konoha Eleven (excluding Ino). Sasuke's eyes widened almost imperceptibly at the sight of his former schoolmates and fellow Genin—he'd never thought that people like Aburame Shino or Tenten had any reason to care what happened at his trial, but apparently they either cared about him more than they let on or, more likely in his mind, Naruto had asked them to come to give Sasuke some wholly unnecessary moral support.

None of that affected Sasuke in the slightest… well it didn't affect him enough to grant the courtroom the word 'imposing.' What really made the room daunting was the layout of the chairs for the accused and the jury. He, as the accused, would had only a simple wooden chair, sitting very, very close to an impressive eight-person jury consisting of Hatake Kakashi (Sasuke wondered dimly how his ever-tardy ex-sensei had managed to arrive earlier than he had); Kakashi's youth-obsessed rival Maito Gai; Yuuhi Kurenai; Mitarashi Anko; Genma, the guy who'd been the proctor for the third part of Sasuke's first Chuunin Exam; the Hokage's assistant Shizune; Hyuuga Hiashi, the head of the Hyuuga Clan; and some guy that Naruto might have mentioned was named Yamato. Every one of them was Special Jounin-level or higher. The Hokage herself sat in a seat slightly aside from the rest. Apparently, she would act as the judge.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Tsunade addressed him formally as he stepped forward to take his seat. He nodded to her, sliding into his seat. His hands folded across his lap, he stared back at the eight jurors and Hokage, a bit annoyed by the realization that all of their chairs were higher up than his, causing him to literally have to look up to them. It was, as he would have put it in his younger days, _annoying_. "You have been charged with the crimes of betraying Konohagakure Village, swearing your loyalty to a known enemy of the village, committing various illegal acts while under the influence of said enemy, and the attempted murder of Konoha ninja on two occasions. Are all of these accusations true?" In the spectators' section in the back of the room, Sakura held her breath, silently urging Sasuke to deny the charges.

"They are true," the Uchiha heir said simply, not breaking eye contact for a second. There were scattered mutterings among some of the jurors, some outraged at his actions, some disbelieving that he would so willingly accept charges that would, under normal circumstances, have him executed. Kakashi however, was silent, staring back at his former pupil with an unreadable expression.

"Have you any justification to offer for your actions?" Tsunade asked him, causing Sasuke to turn away from the mystery of his first real teacher.

"None." More muttering from the jury.

"Silence!" Tsunade thundered at them before returning her attention to Sasuke. "Have you anything further you would like to say, any offers you would like to make in order to lessen your punishment?"

"None." Tsunade inhaled sharply at his simple answer before managing to regain her composure. In all honesty, her past dealings with the Uchiha Clan in general and Uchiha Sasuke in particular had led her to expect that he would make at least some attempt to bargain with the court into lessening his sentence. She knew that as an Uchiha he could never be so desperate as to _beg_ anyone for anything, but some resistance was not too much to expect! This calm acceptance was almost unnerving, especially in one who had previously been so full of fire and hate.

"Very well then," she began quietly so as not to betray her shock. "Uchiha Sasuke, the jury will retire to an adjacent room to discuss your sentencing. Please wait here." He nodded, unnerving her once again as she followed the rest of the jury silently into the discussion room.

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura addressed him softly. He turned to find her and Naruto approaching him, both of them looking far more nervous than he felt.

"It'll be alright, teme," Naruto said. "They won't do anything too bad to you, because Baa-chan knows what Sakura-chan and I would do if they tried that. So it should all be fine. There's no reason to be nervous teme," he concluded with a grin that clearly indicated that he could use some of his own advice. There had once been a time when Sasuke would have reprimanded Naruto for telling him to remain calm when the Uchiha plainly did not need the advice at all. That time had passed. Now, Sasuke could recognize that it was not he to whom Naruto was speaking, but rather to himself. Instead of annoyance at the gesture, Sasuke felt touched, though he would of course never admit as much aloud. Best friend or not, he was still an Uchiha, and Uchiha did not do such sentimental things.

The voices coming from the adjacent meeting room were growing louder, rising almost to the point that they could be heard from within the courtroom. Noticing this, Naruto not-so-subtly crept towards the door, all but pressing his ear against it in an effort to hear what was going on.

"I can almost hear what Baa-chan's saying… Ow! Sakura-chan," he moaned in pain. Just as she always did when Naruto began to act up, Sakura had punched him in the head, leaving a sizable lump. During their Genin days, such punishments had hurt, and had quickly discouraged Naruto from his less appropriate activities. However, since Sakura had begun training under Tsunade and acquired her inhuman strength, it was nothing short of torture. "Ow, ow, ow," Naruto moaned, clutching his head.

"Baka!" Sakura hissed, careful to keep her voice low enough that she would not be heard by the jury in the next room. "Next time, don't eavesdrop and I won't hit you!"

"Sakura-chan," Naruto moaned. Sasuke smirked; even after all these years, Naruto could still be an idiot at times. Some things just never changed.

The door opened suddenly, causing Naruto to fall forward on his face in an undignified manner. "Ow," he moaned from the floor, lifting his gaze to identify the person who had caused his stumble. The narrowed amber eyes of Tsunade glared back at him, causing him to gulp in fear. The blonde Hokage frowned at him for a moment longer before she sighed, obviously deciding to pretend she hadn't found Naruto eavesdropping.

"All persons please return to their seats," she commanded formally. "The jury has reached its decision." Naruto scrambled back to his bench, Sakura following in a slightly more dignified manner, though it was obvious that she too was anxious to hear the outcome. Sasuke calmly returned to his seat, not a trace of unease making its way into his posture or expression. He watched coolly as the eight members of the jury exited the discussion room and returned to their seats, not even slightly put off by how little time they had taken to decide his sentence.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Tsunade addressed him once everyone had taken their seats, "these eight people have heard your case: they know of your crimes, your history in regards to this village, and your… _special_ circumstances. Now they have decided what your fate is to be. Would the representative please come forward?" Sasuke felt a faint jolt of surprise as Kakashi rose, then berated himself for his foolishness. The gray-haired Jounin had been his sensei during his days as a Konoha ninja; he knew Sasuke best out of everyone on that council. Of course it would be he that was assigned the task of condemning his former pupil.

"Uchiha Sasuke," Kakashi echoed Tsunade's formal address, "you have been brought her today for sentencing on the following crimes: betraying Konoha village; swearing your loyalty to a known enemy of the village; committing various illegal acts under the direction of said criminal, including the practice and usage of various kinjutsu; and the attempted murder of Konoha ninja on two separate occasions. You have pleaded guilty to all charges." Something that might have been pain crossed Kakashi's features for the briefest of moments before he managed to conceal it. "That being said, we have decided on a suitable punishment for your crimes." He took a deep breath before saying the next bit. During his pause there was absolutely no sound in the courtroom as everyone present waited with baited breath.

"You are to be given a one year probationary period. During this time you must remain in the company of at least one ninja of Konohagakure at all times. You will be allowed to go on ninja missions with Team Kakashi, though none of them are to involve Otogakure village in any way, shape, or form, and your teammates will have orders to kill you at once if you show any signs of choosing to desert. Additionally, you will be banned from taking the Chuunin Exams until your probation is complete." Sasuke barely stopped himself from openly gaping at Kakashi in shock. That was _it_? He'd betrayed the village and actively worked against them, and a year's probation was all he got? They'd almost let him off altogether!

The Konoha Eleven were chatting amongst themselves in the spectator's benches now that the trial had ended. Most of them sounded relieved that Sasuke had gotten off, which was odd, because he didn't actually know many of them all that well. It was probably just for sentimental reasons, because after all he had been most of their classmate during their Academy days, and he had been with all of them during their first ever Chuunin Exam. That was probably all it was. They couldn't actually care that much about him, especially since most of them should remember very well the damages they had suffered as a result of the failed attempt to stop him from leaving the village. They were just being overly emotional.

The Uchiha's eyes fell on Kakashi, who had apparently approached him once he finished declaring Sasuke's sentence. The gray-haired Jounin opened his mouth to speak.

"I'm glad you accepted the charges. It showed that you really have grown up. It's about time to, eh Sasuke?" The Uchiha ignored the barb, staring back at his former mentor with disbelief in his eyes.

"Why?" he asked incredulously. Kakashi sighed.

"Believe it or not, Sasuke," he began, "most of the people there didn't want you to be killed. We all know you, and we know that you're not a bad kid. You were just messed up, and it took you a little while to realize your mistake. We'd already discussed what your punishment would be before the trial began. All that remained would be to see what you said, and if you responded like we thought you would, your punishment would remain the same." Kakashi's single eye crinkled as he grinned beneath his mask. "You can't imagine how pleased I was when you did." Sasuke's reaction was not what most people would have done, though it was no different than Kakashi had expected from his student. Instead of looking relieved or smug he was gazing intently at his two closest friends, neither one of whom had yet noticed his scrutiny. Kakashi followed his eyes. "Don't worry," the Jounin said, "they've forgiven you for leaving. In fact I don't think they ever were actually mad at you in the first place." His former student sighed, somehow conveying years of weariness in the simple gesture.

"I know," he said quietly. "That doesn't mean that I have."

Naruto turned, almost as though he had heard Sasuke's words (though that was impossible given the distance that separated them and the low volume at which the Uchiha had spoken), and grinned at his friend, waving enthusiastically. He nudged Sakura and the two of them proceeded over, all smiles and good cheer.

"Hey, teme," Naruto greeted him familiarly. Sasuke half-smirked-half-smiled at him, which was the closest Sasuke got to smiling except under very special circumstances.

"Dobe," he addressed with equal teasing. Sakura rolled her eyes at their continued refusal to admit that they actually cared about each other to the point of considering themselves to be brothers, punching both good-naturedly on the arm.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto protested without much conviction, too caught up in his relief to really complain. Sasuke wouldn't be killed. He would only be on probation, and Naruto had a sneaking suspicion that the requirement that he remain in the company of Leaf-nin at all times had only been added to appease the Elders, when really he and Sakura would already have accompanied Sasuke constantly already.

Kakashi smiled fondly at his three students' interactions. Most Jounin would have been astounded at his team's apparent brutal treatment of each other, but to him it was just the way things were. Instead of attempting to stop them, he rejoiced. Their little family was back together at last. His gaze fell on Sasuke, the one who had originally shattered that family. A trace of something that might have been sorrow crossed his features, though it was almost impossible to tell with his mask. _You may not have forgiven yourself yet Sasuke, but they have. Try to move on, for their sake if not your own. Remember that they love you, and they wouldn't want you to suffer any more than you already have for your choices. They're your family. Never forget that._

_All three of you, grow into the roles that you'll someday have to assume. You're the second generation of the Sannin. You'll have a great many duties you'll be expected to perform._

_Sakura, be the greatest medic the world has ever seen. You've already surpassed Godaime. Now you just have to realize that yourself._

_Naruto, I can't wait to see you become Hokage. The villagers may have doubted you at one point, but you've changed all their minds. The things you've already done are greater than what many ninja can ever hope to accomplish in their lifetimes, and you're still only a boy. There's no way anyone can deny that you've worked hard enough to earn the title many times over. Sometimes I think they're just waiting for you to bring it up again so they can give it to you._

_And you, Sasuke. There was a time that I worried that we'd lost you for good. I see now that I was wrong then. You never really left us. Your heart lies in Konoha, whether you were willing to admit it to yourself or not. Someday you'll learn to forgive yourself, and to move past what you've done and look forward to the future. When that day comes, it will be interesting to see what you can do. Naruto may be the Destined Child, but you're special as well. Always remember that. And never underestimate the value of your friends. You don't know how lucky you are to have them. Actually, I think that you finally do. Make me proud. All of you._

* * *

**One year later:**

Sasuke threw a shuriken at Naruto, who promptly vanished in a puff of smoke. It had been another of his Kage Bunshin then. The Uchiha prodigy promptly leapt back as a barrage of kunai and shuriken flew at the space where he has stood moments before. He turned to face the direction the weapons had come from in time to see Naruto's kick as it connected with his face. The Uchiha was thrown off balance, and advantage Naruto quickly followed up with a punch to his gut and a swipe at his legs that knocked his friend off his feet. Before Sasuke had time to get up, Naruto sat on him, forcing the Uchiha to concede defeat. Naruto leapt off him, shouting happily.

"Yetta! I win! Finally I've beaten you teme!"

"That's one bout you've won, two bouts I've won, Naruto," Sasuke informed him with a smirk. Naruto's excitement promptly deflated, though his fiery spirit did not.

"You just wait," he declared, pointing at Sasuke. "Someday I'll be even better than you, and then you'll be forced to acknowledge my superiority. Me, Naruto, the next Hokage!"

"And the biggest dobe in the Hidden Leaf Village," Sasuke responded, giving him a light punch. Naruto grinned and blocked it.

"What's the matter teme, getting slow?" he taunted. Sasuke smirked before lightly punching him again, this time actually making contact. Naruto laughed before his expression became more serious.

"It's been exactly a year today, hasn't it teme?"

"Yeah," Sasuke replied, his expression unreadable.

"It's weird, you know? This was the same training ground where we officially became Genin." Sasuke smirked as he recalled the event. All three of them had spectacularly failed to steal a bell from Kakashi. They had almost failed the test, only to succeed by offering to share their lunches with Naruto against direct orders. Their actions had demonstrated that the three Genin-hopefuls had understood the value of teamwork, which had been the point of the test all along. And, more importantly, it had placed them on the path that would lead to the three of them becoming friends.

"The Chuunin Exams are coming up again soon," Naruto said after a while. "I haven't taken them since that first time, you know. I… I wanted to wait for you, so that we could become Chuunin together. Since you're finally off your probation, I thought we could take them together. Kakashi-sensei says he can find some other single Genin in the village so that we'll be able to go. What do you think teme?" For a second he thought Sasuke wasn't going to respond. Finally the dark-haired shinobi nodded, faint hints of a smile appearing on his face.

"I'd like that, Naruto."

"Good," his best friend replied, his tone still serious. It didn't last for long however before Naruto's natural Naruto-ness reappeared along with promises of seemingly impossible dreams that everyone now was certain he would someday make a reality. "'Cause Sakura-chan says she's sick of the two of us still being just Junior Level ninja. Then after this exam we have the Jounin Exams. Kakashi-sensei says they're tough, but they can't be too hard for the next Hokage. Then you and me have to become ANBU. Sakura-chan says she'll stick to being a medic-nin; she'll probably end up being head of the medical corps or something. Then all I have to do is become Hokage, and everything will be the way it's supposed to be." Sasuke smirked. He didn't doubt that things would go exactly as Naruto had said. After all the two of them had experienced during the last four years, something like the Chuunin Exams should be a piece of cake. And once they were all the same rank again, Team Seven could move on to the kinds of challenges they were destined to handle, as the Second Generation of the Sannin.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Note 1: Sasuke being put on probation and the trial weren't things I originally planned on having. I added it after I realized that Sasuke was basically getting off totally free, and I do think that he needs **_**some**_** sort of punishment. However, I did **_**not**_** want to write out a whole year worth of probation/Team Seven going on missions, which is why there was a one year timeskip in there. Hopefully no one minded too much, and you can just imagine in them going on plenty of missions (mostly A-rank) packed with Team Seven fluffy goodness.**

**Note 2: That was the last official chapter of the story. All that's left is the epilogue, which is set 19 years in the future and is just a oneshot about their kids that I am really looking forward to writing. (Trust me, it is actually related to the plot of the series. I won't tell you how, because that spoils it, but it really is important.)**


	17. Epilogue: Eternity

The Eternal Dying Flame

The Eternal Dying Flame

Epilogue: Eternity

**Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto, Sasuke would not be a total MORON who is about to destroy Konoha and start the Fourth Great Ninja War. Since he is still an IDIOT, I think we can all assume that I still do not own Naruto. (Yes, I am very annoyed with recent developments in the series.) However, I own every single member of the Naruto Second Generation that appears in this chapter. Take that stupid disclaimer!**

**A/N: Just like the first time, the translations of all names used for OCs are at the end of the chapter for people who are interested.**

* * *

Time passed. The names Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Haruno Sakura (later changed to Uchiha Sakura after her marriage) became synonymous with power, known throughout the Five Great Shinobi Nations as the Second Generation of the Sannin. For years, the reunited Team Seven accepted missions of A- and S-rank, succeeding where everyone else would have failed and spurring themselves on to new heights. In time though, the legendary team broke up and headed their separate ways as they rose to meet the destinies that they had been given all those years ago. No matter how far they went by themselves, it had all started on that day. The last day of Uchiha Sasuke's probation. The day on which their little team was finally reunited after more than four long years apart.

* * *

**Nineteen years later:**

Uchiha Mikoto peered out from behind her mother's legs at the crowd for a moment before realizing that some of their eyes had fallen on her. She withdrew with a yelp, hiding behind the shield that was her mother. Uchiha Sakura gazed down at her daughter, smiling affectionately at the young girl's shyness. Mikoto reminded her of herself when she was her age, though she was considerably more talented at ninja arts as she _was_ an Uchiha. There were, however, obvious similarities between her and her mother beyond just her shyness. The girl's apple green eyes were definitely Sakura's, as were her small nose and slightly-larger-than-average forehead (though Sakura was relieved to say that it was nowhere near as large as hers had been at that age, and her daughter would probably never be teased about it as she had been). The raven-black hair that fell quite a bit past her shoulders was plainly her father's though, along with her rather pale complexion. Smiling down at the girl, Sakura could proudly say that her daughter was one of the most beautiful girls she had ever seen.

"It's okay Mikoto," she said, stroking the young girl's soft hair affectionately. Mikoto smiled at her mother, though she made no move to return to the open. In all honesty, Sakura couldn't really blame the four-year-old. Here she was, barely old enough that she could no longer be called a toddler, and she was standing on what was practically a stage alongside the Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure, the Commander of the Konoha ANBU Black Ops, and the Head of the Medical Corps for both the Hidden Leaf Village and the Fire Country as a whole. (The latter two were her parents and the first was her adopted uncle, though that didn't make their exalted positions any less daunting.)

With a final encouraging smile, Sakura turned her attention from her daughter to the waiting audience, her eyes instinctively locating her elder child. The Uchiha heir sat with his head turned down, hiding his face from view as he lost himself in thought. Sakura sighed at the seriousness of her young son before turning her attention to Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato and Biggest Dobe in the World (the latter being Sasuke's title for their friend). He would be expected to begin the ceremony soon. After becoming Hokage, Naruto had started to change things, more than any Hokage had before him. One of the things he'd changed was the Academy Graduation Ceremony. They still had the celebration for passing the exam given by the Academy instructors, but he'd thought that those who actually passed their Jounin's tests to become Genin deserved another ceremony to distinguish that they really were ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village. Thus, the Ninja Acceptance Ceremony was born.

Basically, the nine successful shinobi would have their names announced one by one and the villagers would recognize them as the newest group of ninja. It wasn't anything too fancy, but it was a formal recognition that out of the twenty-seven or so candidates sent to the Jounin, these children were the ones who had actually passed, and every Academy student looked forward to the day when they would someday have their name announced by the Hokage as a Genin of Konohagakure.

For the nine new Genin sitting in front of them, that day was today.

Uzumaki Naruto, Rokudaime Hokage of Konohagakure, stepped forward, looking proudly at the new batch of ninja before him. He grinned. If anything, he was even happier than usual to perform this Ninja Acceptance Ceremony. Every previous ceremony had been celebrating Genin who he vaguely knew from meeting them at the Academy and around the village. This time, however, the children were much closer to him than even the citizens of his beloved village. Every last one of them was the child either of one of his close friends, or of himself. He grinned again. Yes, he would enjoy this induction very much.

"Hello and welcome to this year's Ninja Acceptance Ceremony," he greeted the crowd of friends, family, and villagers that assembled each year to honor their newest ninja. The words were not his own of course; he had never been that good with making speeches, a fact which the population well knew. After seeing his sad attempt at a speech the first year they had done this, something about how the new Genin were sure to kick ass dattebayo, Sakura had promptly taken it upon herself to draft all of his speeches for him in order to "save him from embarrassing himself, the village, and his friends, who had reputations too after all." He smiled at the memory before continuing. "I will now be announcing the names of this year's new Genin." Polite applause came from the crowd at his words.

"Team Three under the instruction of Jounin Nara Shikamaru:

"Hyuuga Megumi." The Hyuuga girl stood, gracefully walking over to her new sensei, her short dark brown hair swishing with her movement. Her eyes were the lavender color usual of the Hyuuga clan, and she had already awakened her kekkei genkai some years ago. In the crowd, ANBU captain Hyuuga Neji beamed as his youngest child walked forward to greet her new sensei politely. She really was a model Hyuuga, as expected from a daughter of the head of the clan, even the youngest one. Once Hinata married Naruto all those years ago, she had formally renounced her position as heiress to the clan, saying that it would not be advisable for the Hokage to become so close to the affairs of one clan, as it might cause him to show favor towards them. The clan elders had been relieved, and had promptly appointed Neji to the position; branch family member or not he was still one of the strongest ninja the renowned clan had ever produced.

Beside him stood Tenten, looking positively thrilled for their daughter and barely managing to remind herself of her dignified position as wife of the head of the Hyuuga Clan and refrain from cheering like an idiot. Neji smirked. Tenten was definitely crazy, and he wouldn't have her any other way.

"Aburame Kaede." The young bug user stood with as little fuss as Megumi had, moving to stand beside his female teammate. He wore the same dark shades as all members of the Aburame clan, so no one really knew what color his eyes were, though it was believed that they were probably the same shade of olive green that Shino's had turned out to be on the rare occasions that someone had seen them. His dark chestnut hair however he had gotten from his mother, since his father's had been a shade far closer to black. Shino watched with an unreadable expression, though that was mainly due to his high collar, hood, and sunglasses. Presumably, beneath his extra clothing, the Aburame was proudly watching as his first and only child was formally recognized as a ninja. His mother, a quiet but brilliant kunoichi Shino had met during his time in ANBU, openly beamed at her son, her satisfaction in his progress plainly evident.

"And Inuzuka Toboe." The last Genin on the team was also male. It was obvious from the moment he stood that he was a true Inuzuka. While there was no way he could be called _rude_, he did not display the same degree of respect that most of the other children did. If Naruto had been forced to chose a word to describe the posture he held himself in, he would have chosen 'arrogant,' or the word he himself had made up 'Sasukeish.' His dark brown hair appeared casually disarrayed, which he no doubt intended, and gave him a faintly wild look. Needless to say, he had been popular with some of the girls at the Academy who liked his 'bad boy' appearance. His eyes were vaguely dog-like, as were all Inuzukas', with vertical pupils and little to no iris. He bore startlingly little resemblance to his mother, a fiery redheaded kunoichi that Kiba, like Shino, had met after their teams were reassembled when some of the original Konoha ninja moved on to being ANBU. Perched atop his head his head was Yori, a small light brown dog who was one of Akamaru's puppies. The puppy barked enthusiastically at its parent, who lay at the edge of the mass of people where no one would accidently step on his tail. Kiba perched on him, while his wife lounged beside the now-massive dog with her own dog, a much smaller breed that was intended to be pets rather than ninja companions. Both parents wore expressions of satisfaction at their son's success.

All three Genin of Team Three had assembled beside their lazy Jounin sensei, who muttered under his breath, "Troublesome" (and was yelled at by Temari as a result).

"Alright!" Naruto cried enthusiastically, forgetting his supposed dignity as Hokage for a moment. He was reminded by the sound of Sakura's fists cracking ominously, and hurriedly returned his appearance to that of a mature adult. "I present this year's Cell Three, under the command of Nara Shikamaru," he said in a much more formal voice. The Rokudaime paused while the crowd applauded the new team, smiling warmly at the pleased looks on the faces of the new Genin. Once it had died down, he cleared his throat to indicate for Shikamaru to lead his team off the stage as he called up the next group of Genin.

"Team Six under the command of Jounin Sarutobi Konohamaru:

"Akimichi Chouko." The girl that moved forward was definitely "pleasantly plump." She was easily the chubbiest kid in the Academy at the moment, something which she would surely have been teased for had her friends not stood up for her. The children of the Konoha Twelve **(A/N: The Konoha Eleven, minus Ino, plus Sasuke and Sai. That totals to twelve members.)** had been raised beside each other due to their parents' close friendships, resulting in inevitable friendships springing up between them as well. None of the others had been willing to just sit back and watch as Chouko was bullied, meaning that her childhood was considerably easier than her father's had been. She's inherited little from him besides her kindness and family ninjutsu, favoring her mother in her appearance. Her slightly-longer-than-shoulder-length dark brown hair was definitely that of her mother, as were her bright green eyes. Unlike most of the others whose spouses had not come from the original Twelve, Chouji's wife was a civilian. She was a very kind woman, and had never had a harsh word to say in regards to her husband's weight. In fact, according to Chouji she was an excellent cook who encouraged him to eat as much as he wanted. The two of them watched from the crowd, tears of joy in their eyes as their daughter was recognized formally as a ninja.

"Nara Yumi." Shikamaru's daughter couldn't have been more different than her father. While she may have his chocolate brown eyes, she had inherited Temari's blond hair and fiery attitude, and was definitely, as her father put it, "troublesome." (This declaration was generally followed by a cry of pain as Temari hit him and called him a lazy bum.) Shikamaru watched her from where he stood with his new Genin team, a mixture of pride and weariness on his face. He was all but certain that now he would be pressured more than ever to train Yumi in the use of his shadow ninjutsu, and that would mean he would have to teach her two younger sisters as well. The lazy Jounin sighed. Why was his entire family made up of troublesome women?

Unlike her husband, Temari looked very pleased with her daughter's new rank, and would probably be one of the people pressuring Shikamaru to teach her his jutsu.

"Arata." Technically the boy that stood was not a blood relation to any of the Konohagakure Twelve. He was an orphan that Sai had found several years ago during a mission to investigate a destroyed village. Acting on Naruto's teachings about emotion and displaying signs of kindness towards others, Sai had chosen to adopt the infant, naming him Arata, or 'new,' in honor of the change it symbolized in his adoptive father. Young Arata had blond hair, blue eyes, and was nearly as quiet as Sai himself. However, this had less to do with him lacking emotions than being naturally a quiet person, something that had fit rather well with his new father's personality. From where he stood, Sai watched his adoptive son with his signature smile pasted on his face, though this time it was genuine. Had Naruto seen, he would have grinned at the change in his friend since the emotionless ROOT member who had been assigned to Team Yamato in order to fill Sasuke's vacant position during the mission to capture Sasori's spy at the Bridge of Heaven and Earth and resulting the attempt to return the young Uchiha to the village.

"I present to you Team Six under the command of Sarutobi Konohamaru." Applause followed this announcement just as it had for the previous team. Naruto grinned at the new Genin's parents, sharing in their joy at watching as the hard work of their children finally paid off.

"Finally," he began, "Team Seven under the command of Jounin Hatake Kakashi." Naruto's voice almost broke as he said his former sensei's name. Kakashi had become a parent to Sasuke, Sakura, and himself. Now, as a favor to those unofficially adopted children, he had offered to lead another squad, the second one ever that he had actually passed. A squad comprised entirely of their children.

"Uzumaki Hikari." The girl that stepped forward was almost an exact copy of Hinata. She had her mother's lavender eyes and general facial features, as well as Hinata's almost waist-length indigo hair, though Hikari's was considerably spikier. Personality wise, however, she was more like Naruto: confident, determined, loyal to her friends and unafraid of anyone. The Rokudaime Hokage struggled to retain what little dignity he had and not start shouting to Hikari that she would do awesome and he expected to see her face on the mountain as the Shichidaime Hokage as she had so often promised. **(A/N: Shichdaime means Seventh Hokage, I think. Please feel free to correct that if it's wrong.)** Beside him, Hinata's eyes filled with tears of joy to see her daughter, grinning like Naruto, become a Genin ninja of the village.

"Uzumaki Daisuke." Hikari's younger twin brother stood. Naruto couldn't help but sigh mentally over his son's name. He had wanted to name his son "Ramen," but Hinata had displayed a rare degree of forcefulness in rejection of the idea, literally shouting at him that she would not have a child named Ramen. Naruto had learned that Hinata's wrath was something to be feared, and he had settled for naming his son Daisuke. Like is older sister, Daisuke possessed the Byakugan and Hyuuga-colored eyes, as well as their mother's darker hair. However, his facial features were that of his father. Naruto's famous smile too had been passed on to his son, something that both of his parents were pleased with. Personality wise, he was quieter than Hikari and Naruto, though nowhere near as quiet as Hinata had been. He was better at studying and paying attention in school than his twin, though that meant that he was the one who had to help her catch up when the point of a lesson evaded her. For all the twins' natural talent, they were only children when it was all said and done, and lessons on the theory of ninjutsu and other such matters occasionally eluded them.

"And Uchiha… Uchiha…" Naruto bit his lip, something he almost never did. He couldn't help it. He could not believe that he had forgotten the kid's name! The child was only nine, younger than any of the other graduates, but the fact that he was graduating early was all the more reason for him to have remembered! He couldn't believe this.

"Um, Sakura-chan," he whispered so that only the kunoichi could hear him, taking care to move his lips as little as possible in order to prevent any one of the many ninja present from reading them.

"Yeah?" asked Sakura, clearly wondering why he did not just go ahead and announce the new Genin, especially since he was _her_ son.

"What's his name?" Naruto asked quietly; obviously afraid of how Sakura would react to such a question. He concern appeared warranted.

"Baka, how could you forget the name of my eldest child?!" Sakura screamed at him, her fist already charged with chakra. Mikoto hurriedly ducked away, not wanting to accidently be hit by one of her mother's infamous superhuman punches. Before Naruto could as much as protest, he was being pummeled mercilessly by the exceptionally ticked off kunoichi's inhuman strength. The crowd watched at their Hokage rapidly lost the dignity he had worked so hard to preserve at the hands of his female teammate.

"Ow, ow, ow!" he cried, trying, and failing, to ward off her monstrous punches. He could only hope for the torture to end soon as Sakura took out her rage at him for daring to forget the name of her son, especially when he was practically Naruto's son as well!

The third person on the temporary stage stepped forward, though not intending to stop the fight. He had had more than enough experience with Sakura's fists, having discovered over the years that he actually was _not_ immune from the dreaded inhuman strength. Instead, he stepped in front of his two quarreling best friends and spoke the name of the new Genin in a loud, clear voice.

"Uchiha Itachi."

At the sound of his name, the small boy stood up. He had been facing the ground while sitting, so that his face was hidden behind his gray-black bangs. He raised his head now until his onyx eyes met those of his father. Two slanted lines adorned the skin beneath his eyes, making it look like he was sleep-deprived, though they were really just genetic. The rest of his face was set in a neutral expression that somehow gave off an aura of concealed sadness, though he should have been elated. His somewhat tanned skin was noticeably darker than either of his parents', making him stand out immediately when they stood as a family, though it blended in just fine amid the other students of the Ninja Academy. His dark hair hung past his shoulder blades in a pony tail. The hair style did not make him appear girly in the slightest, instead it only added to the similarities between him and a certain deceased ninja. Uchiha Sasuke met his son's dark eyes with his own, staring back evenly. Sometimes Itachi could have sworn that he saw grief in his father's eyes when he looked at his son, despite knowing that his father loved him dearly. He had even seen something that might have been anger once, though the Commander of the ANBU Black Ops had excused himself from the room before he could be certain. There were none of those confusing emotions now. Instead, there was only a simple challenge. _You've made it this far… Can you go all the way?_ The young boy nodded without smiling, his features retaining their look of masked sorrow. He would do it. He would become as strong as he could be, stronger than anyone else. He did not want to do this for fame or recognition, the way Hikari did. Instead, he would gain his strength for others, so that he would be able to protect his little sister. So that his friends, Hikari and Daisuke, would never have to be hurt. But most importantly, he would gain his strength so that his father could be proud of him.

Sasuke held his gaze for a moment longer before nodding. A trace of something that may have been a smile appeared on Itachi's lips, the first such emotion to appear on his face during the entire ceremony. His father approved of him.

Sasuke peered at his son out of the corner of his eye as the young Uchiha heir moved to stand beside his new Genin teammates. Naruto and Sakura's fight had ended, and the blond Hokage was finishing his speech about how the new Genin were the future of the village and their Will of Fire would burn strong and each and every one of them should feel proud of themselves and a bunch of other things Sakura had written up for him. Sasuke wasn't really paying attention to the speech. All of his attention was focused on his son, on the boy who bore such a striking resemblance to his deceased brother.

_I know you'll do well, Itachi._

* * *

A few hours later, Uchiha Sasuke sat beside the memorial stone, lost in thought. The names of every Konoha ninja who was killed in battle adorned this rock. Each and every one of them was recognized as a hero who had given the ultimate sacrifice of their life in order to keep the village safe. His brother's name was almost conspicuous in its absence. Even though he had only left the village on the Council's orders, Itachi had still been listed as a missing-nin when he died, a status that Himura, Koharu, and Danzo refused to change with his death. Absentmindedly the head of the Uchiha Clan stroked an empty section of the cold rock where his sibling's name would have been placed, a sorrowful expression on his face.

"I'm sorry, nii-san," he said quietly, as though the ghost of his brother could somehow hear him. "You didn't deserve this." Sasuke bowed his head as a small breeze sprang up, blowing at his raven locks.

"Otousan?" asked a familiar voice from behind him. Sasuke turned, knowing who it would be even as his heart identified the voice as that of another. His son hovered on the edge of the training ground, uncertain if he should be disturbing his father. Sasuke automatically adjusted his face into a more relaxed expression, smiling warmly at the child.

"Hello, Itachi," he said, beckoning him over. Itachi obeyed the command without hesitation, moving to stand beside his father facing the memorial stone. The younger Uchiha gazed at it in silence for a moment, well aware of the significance of the names written on the rock, before he spoke.

"I have a mission tomorrow, Father," the new Genin said. Sasuke's eyes widened almost imperceptivity at the thought of his son being given a mission so soon, but he made no remark. Naruto's children were on the team as well; there was not the slightest chance that they would accidently be given a mission that they couldn't handle. As a Genin, Itachi would only be given D-rank missions, with maybe an occasional C-rank, but they were nothing to worry about. In all honesty, the child had been skilled enough to graduate the Academy two years ago when he was only seven. Sasuke, however, had insisted that his son remain in school until at least age nine, which would be the time when the rest of the children of the Konoha Twelve would be graduating. He would not be isolated from his peers due to his ability. Not Itachi. Not his son.

"I'm sure that you'll perform wonderfully," Sasuke told his son truthfully. The small boy nodded at the praise, his expression blank.

"Would you please train me, Father?" he blurted out suddenly. Sasuke looked slightly taken aback by the question.

"Why?" he asked, being careful to keep his voice neutral.

"Please, Otousan," Itachi all but begged. "I've already learned the Goukakyuu no Jutsu, which the teachers say we shouldn't have enough chakra to perform yet. I know that it's Kakashi-sensei's job to train us, but please, Father, I want you to train me. I want to be strong. I want you to be proud of me." Sasuke's eyes closed at the last bit as a wave of guilt washed over him. So Itachi had noticed then. Over the years, his child's uncanny likeness to his older brother had caught Sasuke off guard many times, evoking feelings of remorse for his sibling's fate, as well as anger at the Council for using his brother then casting him aside like a broken tool once he had served his purpose. Hints of those feelings had often made their way onto his face, making it seem almost as though he was displeased with his son in some way. Sasuke had hoped that Itachi had not noticed, but apparently the kid possessed Itachi's remarkable degree of perception as well.

The head of the Uchiha Clan placed a hand on his son's head, his expression serious. "I _am_ proud of you, Itachi," he told his heir firmly. "You're my child, how could I not feel proud of your success? It's just… you remind me of someone. I know I've told you before of the uncanny resemblance you bear to your uncle. It catches me off guard sometimes. That's all." He smiled warmly down at the young Genin. "You're my son, Itachi, and I love you. Never forget that." Itachi nodded numbly, shocked by Sasuke's words. Never before had his father openly said that he loved anyone. He would imply it clearly with his actions, but he never would actually acknowledge with words that someone was precious to him. For his father to finally say that to him, to tell him that he cared for him, was higher praise than Itachi had ever hoped to receive. A true smile appeared on the boy's face, not one of the elated ones that Hikari and her father were so prone to displaying, but a smile nonetheless. And from an Uchiha, that was something.

Sasuke ruffled his son's hair affectionately before turning away from the memorial stone. "Come on," he said. "Your mother's probably anxious to celebrate at home, and I know Mikoto wants to congratulate her nii-san." Itachi smiled again at the idea before following his father, heading in the direction of the Uchiha Compound and his home. Sasuke looked down at the boy with a smile on his face.

_You're just like him, Itachi. You'll become a great ninja someday, my son. I expect no less of you. After all, you're my child. _His eyes half closed as another thought crossed his mind. _Your name never made it to the list of heroes, Itachi. You were treated as a villain until the day you died, and even beyond that. Maybe this time it will be different. Maybe this time, you can have the life you deserved to have, nii-san._

* * *

The next morning, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, along with Hinata and young Mikoto, stood assembled at the village gates, waiting for the new Genin Team Seven to head off to their first mission. Admittedly it was only pulling weeds at a nearby farm, but it was still the first mission that the new Genin would be performing as ninja, and as such it was a big event.

"Well we should be back within a couple of hours," Kakashi told the parents, his usual orange book in hand. At a warning cough from Sakura however, the Jounin reluctantly returned the book to the pouch at his waist. His former pupil had taken him aside before the mission briefing and stated very clearly what internal organs he stood to lose if he corrupted the innocence of her child and adopted children with that book. Kakashi preferred to keep his internal organs internal, especially because he had a feeling that Sakura wouldn't bother with healing him afterwards. He had bowed to her wishes, though not without plenty of complaining about having to obey the orders of someone who he'd been able to defeat with a simple genjutsu when she was younger. Sakura had not appreciated the comment, and as a result Kakashi was nursing a small, but painful, bruise to his cheek at the moment, which was thankfully concealed by his mask. "See you later," the ever-tardy Jounin said, already turning to lead the Genin to the farm where they would be helping out.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura watched them leave, each with the same thought on their mind. Their team had been the first Team Seven in Konohagakure that had survived. They had had their fallout when Sasuke left the village admittedly, but they had gotten back together in the end, something that the previous two teams had never managed. Maybe now, the fourth time, this new Team Seven would never have such problems. Maybe theirs had been the team that broke the rotten luck streak of Cell Seven. Maybe their children would be allowed to live their lives in peace.

It was unlikely. The three children were _ninja_ after all, and a ninja's life was one of killing. In addition to that, Cell Seven was the eternal dying flame of Konohagakure no Sato, a powerful existence always on the verge of permanently ceasing to exist. It was a tradition that began with the Sannin and continued with Kakashi's team under the direction of Namikaze Minato many years later. It was an endless cycle, doomed to repeat on for eternity. But maybe, from now on, even though they were doomed to be separated, that separation would not have to last forever. Maybe the members of the new Team Seven would find themselves together, in the end. Maybe the flame would not have to go out again.

-Owari-

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**Note 1: Wow, it's done. Over 160 pages of fanfiction goodness (I put it into one document briefly just to see how long it turned out to be) and you've just finished reading it. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, or just plain read the story all the way through. You guys (and girls) all rock!**

**Note 2: As I mentioned at the beginning of the chapter, here are the translations of all of the names used for OCs: **

**Megumi: blessing**

**Kaede: maple**

**Toboe: howling**

**Yori: trust **

**Yumi: archery bow**

**Chouko: butterfly child**

**Arata: new**

**Hikari: light**

**Daisuke: great help**

**Itachi: weasel (though I'm pretty sure that most people know this one from the manga)**

**Note 3: I am aware that it is pretty much genetically impossible for Sasuke's son to look exactly like Itachi. For the sake of the story, please ignore that. The point was for Itachi (Sasuke's son) to seem like the reincarnation of Itachi (Sasuke's brother), not for him to have the most genetically likely appearance.**

**Poll: I have an idea for a book series, an actual series that is not fanfiction. Who thinks that I should start writing it now, and who thinks that I need more practice before I write something that I want published? I want you to be brutally honest here. Please respond to this. Please. It means a lot.**

**This is your last chance if you want to say anything at all to me about the story. Seriously, you can just put one word in there and I'll be grateful. Press that little gray button in the bottom left corner, you know you want to! And please comment on the poll right above this, it is really important to me.**


End file.
